An effective method for preventing ice-blockage in dynamic generation system with supercooling water

• A nano-fluorocarbon is proposed to suppress the ice blockage.
• The coated supercooling heat exchanger presents much more performance improvement.
• The higher supercooling degree was obtained in the coated supercooling heat exchanger.
• More ice slurries with inherent energy-saving properties were produced.

With the development of economy, environmental protection and energy saving has become a main topic generally cared about by people. The extensive application of ice slurry in various fields is an effective way to reduce energy consumption, especially in the air-conditioning system. As an environment-friendly medium, ice slurry can improve energy efficiency and reduce building energy consumption thanks to the latent heat of ice crystals and its good fluidity. Among those methods of ice-making, ice generating with supercooling water is a superior method because of its high efficiency and energy conservation. However, ice blockage in the supercooling heat exchanger is a prominent problem that reduces the efficiency of the ice generation system. In this study, in order to prevent or retard ice blockage, a fluorocarbon coating is used to make ice slurry continuously without any additive. The results show that the supercooling heat exchanger coated with fluorocarbon coating can be successfully applied to improve the efficiency of ice production, thus to reach the goal of energy saving.