International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 35 (2008) 13351339

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International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer

j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / i c h m t

Heat transfer model of slurry ice melting on external surface of helical coil
Sathaporn Thongwik a, Tanongkiat Kiatsiriroat a,, Atipoang Nuntaphan b
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
b
Thermal Technology Research Laboratory, Mae Moh Training Center, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, Mae Moh, Lampang 52220, Thailand

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Available online 10 October 2008 This research studies the heat transfer phenomenon of melting slurry ice on external surface of a copper
helical coil. There is water owing inside the tube coil and exchanging heat with the slurry ice. In this
Keywords: experiment, the coil diameters are 6.35 mm and 9.53 mm each of 4.2 m coil length. The mass ow rate of
Convective heat transfer model water in the helical coil is between 0.01490.0562 kg/s, while the inlet temperature of water is varied in the
Slurry ice
range of 2327 C. The slurry ice has 60% ice and 40% water by mass at the starting.
Helical coil
The experimental results show that, with small coil diameter, high mass ow rate of circulating water and
Natural convection
low ice fraction, high heat transfer coefcient of the slurry ice at the warm helical coil surface is obtained. The
heat transfer models of slurry ice during melting and post-melting in terms of Nusselt number with the
pertinent parameters are also developed. The results agree very well with the experimental data.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
At present, the application of slurry ice enormously increases
because of its high heat capacity and heat transfer rate associated with
the phase change of ice [1]. The convective heat transfer coefcient of
owing slurry ice in contact with warm surface is around 3 kW/m2 K
(530% ice) while the cooling capacity is 5-6 times higher than that of
chilled water [2,3]. The slurry ice could be implemented in food and
beverage industries, building cooling and other related applications.
In case of air-conditioning system, the produced slurry ice could be
pumped into pipe line of fan coil unit and exchanges heat with warm
air. There are many researchers reported the convective heat transfer
phenomenon of owing slurry ice. Knodel el al [3] investigated ice-
water slurries owing turbulently in a 24.0 mm internal diameter,
4.596 m long, horizontal, stainless steel tube and developed the
models of heat transfer coefcient and pressure drop. Niezgoda-
Zelasko [4] studied on heat transfer of slurry ice owing through
horizontal tubes and also developed the heat transfer coefcient
models in case of laminar and turbulent ows. Lee et al. [5] presented
the heat transfer characteristics of the ice slurry during melting
process in a tube ow. They found that the measured heat transfer
rates increased with the mass ow rate.
Although, the using of slurry ice has many advantages, however,
the major problem of feeding slurry ice owing in pipe line is its very
high pressure drop and high pumping power is consumed. The basic
method to avoid this problem is to feed water inside a coil submerged
Communicated by W.J. Minkowycz.
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: kiatsiriroat_t@yahoo.co.th (T. Kiatsiriroat).
in a slurry ice storage tank for producing chilled water. In this case, the
heat transfer between the slurry ice and the external surface of coil
becomes external convection of which the heat transfer data are not
available. Therefore, this research focuses on the study of heat transfer
of the slurry ice melting at the outer surface of warm helical coil.
2. Experimental set-up
The schematic sketch of the experimental apparatus is shown in
Fig. 1a. Water from a storage tank is owing through a rotameter and a
control valve for measuring and controlling the ow rate of water.
Then, the water is owing into a helical coil submerged in slurry ice in
another well-insulated tank and exchanging heat with the slurry ice.
Fig. 1b shows a schematic sketch of the helical coil.
In this experiment, the slurry ice is produced from a direct contact
heat transfer technique by injecting low temperature CO2 into water
in the storage tank. This technique follows the method of Thongwik
et al [6]. At the initial state of experiment, the total mass of slurry ice is
at 15 kg with the mass fraction of ice: water of 60%:40%. The mass ow
rate of water in the helical coil which is made of copper is between
0.01490.0562 kg/s, while the inlet temperature of water is varied in
the range of 2327 C. Two sizes of the helical coils in this experiment
are 6.35 and 9.53 mm in diameter and each of 4.2 m in length. The
external surface temperatures of the helical coils, the inlet and the
outlet temperatures of water in the coils and the temperature of slurry
ice are measured by a set of K-type thermocouples having 0.01 C
accuracy. The volume ow rate of water is measured by a high
precision rotameter having 0.01 l/min accuracy.
All data are recorded every 10 s and the experiment is carried out
until all ice is melted and the bulk temperature of water in the storage
tank reaches 10 C.

0735-1933/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.icheatmasstransfer.2008.08.019
1336 S. Thongwik et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 35 (2008) 13351339

During the ice melting, from Eq. (1), the temperature of ice slurry is
Nomenclature constant at its freezing point and the mass of melting ice, Ms, during
a time interval could be predicted from
Ao External surface area of helical coil (m2)
:
Cpw Specic heat of water (J/kgK) mw iwi iwo
do Outer diameter of coil tube (m) Ms = t 2
s
Fo Fourier number
g Gravitational acceleration (m/s2) where s is latent heat of ice during melting. When all ice melts, the
hs Heat transfer coefcient of melting process (W/m2K) temperature of water in the storage tank increases with time. Eq. (1) is
is Enthalpy of slurry ice (J/kg) modied and the temperature of water in the storage tank in a
iwi Inlet enthalpies of circulated water (J/kg) numerical form could be
iwo Outlet enthalpies of circulated water (J/kg) :
mw iwi iwo
kw Thermal conductivity of water (W/mK) Tst + t = Tst + t 3
L Coil length (m) Ms Cpw
Ms Mass of slurry ice (kg) where, Ts is the temperature of water in a storage tank, Cpw is the
mw Mass ow rate of water (kg/s) specic heat of water.
Nu Nusselt number
Pr Prandtl number 4. Results and discussion
Q Heat transfer rate (W)
Ra Rayleigh number 4.1. Heat transfer of slurry ice
Ra Modied Rayleigh number
ro Outer radius of coil tube (m) Fig. 2 shows the heat transfer rate during ice melting with time for
Ste Stefan number different tube diameters and different water ow rates. The heat
t Time (min) transfer rate,Q, can be calculated from
Ta Temperature of surrounding (C)
Ts Temperature of slurry ice or water in a storage tank (C)
:
Q = mw Cpw Twi Two : 4
To External surface temperatures of helical coil (C)
(UA) Overall heat gain coefcient from the ambient (W/K) During ice melting, the temperature of slurry ice is at 0 C. In this
case, the mass ow rate of circulating water is between 0.0149
0.0562 kg/s. It is found that the heat transfer rate is approximately
Greek symbols 500900 W and nearly constant during ice melting. However, the heat
w Thermal diffusivity of water (m2/s) transfer rate drops quickly after all of ice already melts. For high mass
Thermal expansion coefcient of water (K-1) ow rate of circulating water, for example, at 0.04060.0562 kg/s (coil
s Latent heat of ice melting process (J/kg) diameter 6.35 mm), the heat transfer rates seem to be nearly constant
w Dynamics viscosity of water (N/m2s) for 60 min and tremendously decrease after 100 min. While for low
w Kinematics viscosity of water (m2/s) mass ow rate, at 0.01490.0171 kg/s (coil diameter 6.35 mm and
Ice fraction (by mass) 9.53 mm), the heat transfer rates are found to be nearly constant for
around 140 min and extremely reduce after 160 min. The undoubtedly
result shows that higher mass ow rate of circulating water gives
higher heat transfer rate. With higher coil diameter or higher heat
transfer area, higher heat transfer is also obtained.
3. Heat transfer analysis During the experiment, it is necessary to know the ice fraction
during melting. In this study, the ice fraction is evaluated by Eq. (2).
In the experiment, it is noted that the temperature of the ice/water Since the melting ice could not be measured directly, to verify the
slurry in the storage tank is nearly uniform. The temperature model, the usage time for melting all of ice in the slurry (from 60% to
difference at the top and the bottom is found to be less than 1.5 C. 0% mass fraction) is considered instead. Fig. 3 shows the comparison of
In our study, the uniform temperature model is used and the energy usage times from the experiment and those from the calculation at
balance at the slurry ice can be written as various conditions. The result shows that Eq. (2) can be used for
calculating the usage time quite well and 90% of experimental data can
d : be predicted with in 10% variation.
Ms is = mw iwi iwo + UATa Ts 1
dt The heat transfer coefcient at the outer surface of the coil during
where, t is time, MS is the mass of slurry ice, iS is the enthalpy of slurry ice melting is shown in Fig. 4. This heat transfer coefcient could be
ice, mw is the mass ow rate of water, iwi and iwo are the inlet and the calculated from
outlet enthalpies of circulating water inside helical coil, (UA) is the Q
overall heat gain coefcient from the ambient, Ta and T s are hs = 5
Ao To Ts
temperatures of the surrounding ambient and the slurry ice,
respectively. where hs is the heat transfer coefcient of melting process, Ao is outer
The left-hand side of the above equation is the enthalpy change of surface area of helical coil, To and Ts are the external surface tem-
the slurry ice with time while the rst and the second terms of the peratures of helical coil and the temperature of slurry ice respectively.
right-hand side are the rate of enthalpy change of the circulating water From Fig. 4, it is found that the heat transfer coefcient decreases
and the rate of heat gain from the surrounding ambient, respectively. with the increasing of ice fraction. At 0% ice fraction (no ice), the heat
In this work, the storage tank is well insulated with low thermal transfer coefcient is approximately between 400700 W/m2K. While
conductivity insulator. From the preliminary test, it is found that the at 60% ice fraction, the heat transfer coefcient is reduced around 40%.
rate of heat gain from the experiment is less than 2% compared to that This result comes from the heat transfer blockage of ice due to its low
of the rate of enthalpy change of the circulating water. Therefore, the thermal conductivity (1.88 W/mK). Actually, the heat transfer
second term of the right hand side of Eq. (1) could be neglected. phenomenon between the warm tube surface and the slurry ice is
 S. Thongwik et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 35 (2008) 13351339 1337

Fig. 1. Schematic sketch of the experimental apparatus. a. Piping and instruments diagram. b. Detail of helical coil.

the combination of heat conduction (via ice) and convection (via surface of long horizontal cylinder in liquid. The model is as
water), therefore, higher fraction of ice trends to get lower heat follows:
transfer coefcient. 8 0 192
Fig. 4 also shows that higher mass ow rate of circulating water < 0:387Ra1=6 =
@
Nu = 0:60 +
 A ; 105 V Ra V 1012 ; 6
and lower tube diameter get higher heat transfer coefcient. These : 9=16 8=27 ;
1 + 0:559=Pr
phenomena can be explained by a heat transfer model developed
by Churchill and Chu [7] for natural heat convection from external
hs do
Nu = ; 7
kw

gTo Ts d3o
Ra = ; 8
w w

Cpw w
Pr = : 9
kw

where Nu is Nusselt number, Ra is Rayleigh number and Pr is Prandtl

number. It could be seen that the heat transfer coefcient (hs) is
directly proportional to Ra. In case of high mass ow rate of circulating
warm water results in higher heating surface temperature and then
higher values of Ra and hs are obtained. From Eqs.(6)(9), it is found
that hs is inversely proportional to tube diameter (do). Similarly, in our
result, lower coil diameter gets higher heat transfer coefcient.

4.2. Empirical models

The model for predicting heat transfer coefcient between the

heating surface and the slurry ice is also developed in this work.
The empirical models of this work are separated into 3 modes. The
Fig. 2. The heat transfer rates during ice melting. rst one is the model for predicting the natural convective heat
1338 S. Thongwik et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 35 (2008) 13351339

Fig. 3. The comparison of the usage time of ice melting calculated from Eq. (3) and that Fig. 5. Comparison of Nusselt number from experiment and model in case of the water
from the experiments. temperature higher than 3.984 C.

4.2.2. Case of 0 C b Ts 3.984 C

transfer coefcient when the water temperature is higher than In this case, the water temperature in the storage tank is between
3.984 C. At 3.984 C, the water has a highest density and most of 03.984 C. As mention above, the thermal expansion coefcient is
the heat transfer data for natural convection have been taken in a negative value, therefore, in this range, the calculated Rayleigh
range over this temperature. The second model is for the water number is taken from the absolute value as
temperature between 03.984 C. In this temperature range, the
RaV= jRaj: 10
thermal expansion coefcient () of water is negative value [8]. The
last model is the heat transfer coefcient model of slurry ice melting Ra is named as modied Rayleigh number.
on external surface of the helical coil. The detail of each model is In this case, the Nusselt number is the function of pertinent
shown in the following subsections. dimensionless terms as

4.2.1. Case of Ts N 3.984 C Nuf = f RaV; Pr; do =L 11

In this part, the water temperature in the storage tank is between
410 C while the inlet temperature of water in the tube side is varied
between 2327 C. Note that, the mass ow rate of the circulating
water is between 0.01490.0562 kg/s.
The empirical model of Churchill and Chu [7] is used for predicting
the Nusselt number for the above conditions. The comparison be-
tween the Nusselt number evaluated from the experimental data and
that from Churchill and Chu [7] is shown in Fig. 5. It is found that the
model of Churchill and Chu [7] can be predicted 90% of the
experimental data within 10% variation.
where, do / L is the aspect ratio of outside tube diameter and its length.
By multiple regression technique, the empirical model of this part
could be
Nuf = 3:4412x105 RaV0:0087905 Pr3:3765 do =L
0:57074
: 12
Fig. 6 shows the comparison between Nu from the experimental
data and from the model. It is found that the model can predict
approximately 82.0% of experimental data within 5% variation.

Fig. 6. Comparison of Nusselt number from experiment and model in case of the water
Fig. 4. The heat transfer coefcients during ice melting. temperature between 03.984 C.
 S. Thongwik et al. / International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer 35 (2008) 13351339
Fig. 7. Interrelation of the model of Churchill and Chu [7] and the model in Eq. (12).
Fig. 7 shows the interrelation of the model of Churchill and Chu [7]
and the model in Eq. (12) in case of do = 6.35 mm and mw = 0.0158 kg/s.
The result shows that at 3.984 C, the calculation result from model in
Eq. (12) is close to that of Churchill and Chu [7].
4.2.3. Case of ice melting process (Ts = 0 C)
In this part, the empirical model of convective heat transfer
coefcient during ice melting is developed. At this condition, the
Nusselt number is the function of dimensionless terms as
Nus = f Ste; n; Fo; do =L
Cpw To Ts
Ste =
w
w t
Fo =
ro2
where, Ste is Stefan number, is ice fraction (by mass) and Fo is
Fourier number. The developed model is
h i
22 0:097084 0:0034767 3:6563
Nus = Nuf 1:0942x10 1n Ste Fo
All properties are based on the properties of liquid water. Fig. 8
shows the comparison of Nusselt number from the experiments and
the model. It is found that the model can predict approximately 97.8%
of experimental data within 10% variation. It should be noted that
when ice fraction equals to 0, Nus Nuf and the heat transfer data for
natural convection (Eq. (12)) could be implemented.
5. Conclusion
From this research, it can be concluded as follows:
The heat transfer rate between slurry ice and warm helical coil
surface is nearly constant during ice melting and tremendously
decreases after all ice melts.
1339
Fig. 8. Comparison of Nusselt number from the experimental data and the model in case
of the slurry ice during melting.
Ice fraction, coil diameter and mass ow rate of circulating water
affect heat transfer coefcient between slurry ice and helical coil
surface. Small coil diameter, high mass ow rate of circulating
water and low ice fraction give high heat transfer coefcient.
The model of Churchill and Chu [7] can be used for predicting the
natural convective heat transfer coefcient when the temperature
of water in storage tank is higher than 3.984 C. However, in case of
the water temperature is between 0 - 3.984 C and in case of slurry
ice, the developed models could predict the heat transfer
13
coefcient very well.
Acknowledgement
14
The authors would like to thank Thermal Technology Research
Laboratory, Mae Moh Training Center, Electricity Generating Authority
15
of Thailand for facilitating the testing equipments and the Commis-
sion on Higher Education, Thailand for funding this research study.
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