Study on ice slurry production by water spray

A theoretical and experimental study was performed to examine the water spr ay method of ice slurry production. First, the conditions for the formation of ice particles were investigated theoretically by the diffusion-controll ed evaporation model. The prediction of the model was proved to agree relat ively well with experiments in which we examined the conditions for a dropl et of initial temperature 20 degreesC and size 50 mum to change into an ice particle in a chamber of height 1.33 m. Second, the production of cold sto rage heat will increase almost proportionally to the number of spray nozzle s because no substantial difference was found in the Sauter Mean Diameter ( SMD) of sprays from single and twin nozzle. Third, an ice slurry was experi mentally obtained by spraying droplets of 7% ethylene glycol aqueous soluti on in a vacuum chamber where pressure is maintained below the freezing poin t of the solution. Finally, based on the theoretical and experimental resul ts, we propose an optimizing chart for providing the operating conditions t o make ice slurry using the relations of the staying time of the droplet in the chamber, the injection pressure, the spray droplet size and the chambe r pressure. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.