Jet impingement heat transfer in a frost-free refrigerator: The influence of confinement

Heat transfer characteristics of a slot air jet (width w) impinging on a circular cylinder (diameter d = w) located 5d from the jet exit in a confined space have been studied for Reynolds number (based on cylinder diameter and mean jet velocity) in the range of 1000–12,000. This situation is found in a frost-free refrigerator, amongst other rapid food refrigeration applications. The results reveal that the slot jet impinging on a circular cylinder in a confined space yields heat transfer rates that are between those for the corresponding uniform cross-flow (lower limit) and slot jet impingement on a non-confined cylinder (upper limit) cases. A dimensionless confinement spacing H/d = 10 was found at which the heat transfer rate was a minimum. CFD analysis revealed that this was due to periodic jet flapping and generation of large flow structures between the cylinder and the confining wall.