Mathematical Model of Heat Transfer for a Finned Tube Cross-flow Heat Exchanger with Ice Slurry as Cooling Medium

Using ice slurry as a secondary refrigerant in HVAC systems has many potential benefits for its high cooling capacity. In order to investigate heat transfer characteristics such as heat transfer rate and heat transfer coefficient in finned tube cross-flow heat exchangers with ice slurry as cooling medium, a mathematical model describing heat transfer process of the heat exchanger has been developed, which are based on three sets of partial differential equations (PDEs) of energy balance. Then an analytical solution has been obtained through solving the PDEs model. The analytical solution of the proposed model presents a reasonable agreement with the experimental data from the published literature when ice mass fraction is between 5% and 25%. In addition, the relationship between the heat transfer rate and the melting amount of ice crystals is also obtained.