Melting characteristics of ice water slurry by warm air bubbling

This paper has dealt with direct contact heat exchange characteristics betw een ice water slurry (average ice particle diameter: 3.10 mm) and warm air bubbles as a heat transfer medium. The warm air bubbles ascending in the la yer fluidized the ice water slurry layer, and the bubbles were cooled down directly by the ice water slurry. The following results were obtained from the experiment. In case of ice water slurry layer, the warm air bubbles flu idized the layer in earlier stage and heat exchange performance was higher than using ice particles layer. The maximum temperature efficiency increase d as Reynolds number Re increased because fluidity in the layer became acti ve and kept at the fixed value in the region of Re greater than or equal to 900. Dehumidity efficiency Increased as modified Stefan number and Re incr eased since the heat capacity of inlet air and heat transfer coefficient in creased. Some empirical correlations for temperature efficiency, dehumidity efficiency and the completion time of melting were derived in terms of var ious nondimensional parameters. (C) 2001 editions scientifiques et medicale s Elsevier SAS.