Delaying condensation frosting using biphilic surfaces coupled with spatial control of liquid desiccant

doi:10.11949/0438-1157.20241175

Abstract

Abstract:

Suppression of condensation frosting is essential for a variety of frost protection applications. However, icing of supercooled droplets at surface edges or defects can eventually lead to icing of the entire surface. For this reason, six hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface-bound hygroscopic solutions were designed and fabricated for experiments in this paper. Frosting tests show that changing the spatial distribution of the hygroscopic droplets has a significant effect on retarding the frost propagation rate. Among them, discontinuous ringlike stripe biphilic with breakpoint 16 (DRSB-16) showed an overall frost coverage time of 228—251 min under the set working conditions, which improved the frost suppression performance by 64%—74% compared with other hygroscopic solution frost suppression studies. The application of hygroscopic solutions and hydrophilic surfaces is expanded and valuable insights are provided for the application of amphiphilic surfaces and for the design of surfaces with customized frost protection properties.

Key words: condensation frost, frost crystal propagation, ice bridge propagation, superhydrophobic, mass transfer, thermodynamics, condensation

摘要：

抑制冷凝结霜对于各种防霜冻应用来说至关重要。然而，在表面边缘或缺陷处的过冷液滴结冰，最终会导致整个表面结冰。为此，设计制作了六种亲疏水表面结合吸湿溶液进行实验。结霜实验表明，改变吸湿液滴的空间分布对延缓霜层传播速度有显著影响。其中，十六等分等间距断环状表面在设定工况下，霜层整体覆盖时间为228~251 min，与其他吸湿溶液抑霜研究相比，抑霜性能提升了64%~74%。扩大了吸湿溶液和亲疏水表面的应用范围，并为设计具有定制防冻特性的表面提供了有价值的见解。

关键词: 冷凝结霜, 霜晶传播, 冰桥传播, 超疏水, 传质, 热力学, 凝结

CLC Number:

TK 123

Wei SU, Dahai ZHAO, Xu JIN, Zhongyan LIU, Jing LI, Xiaosong ZHANG. Delaying condensation frosting using biphilic surfaces coupled with spatial control of liquid desiccant[J]. CIESC Journal, 2025, 76(S1): 140-151.

苏伟, 赵大海, 金旭, 刘忠彦, 李静, 张小松. 吸湿液滴与混合润湿性表面协同抑霜特性研究[J]. 化工学报, 2025, 76(S1): 140-151.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig.1 Flow chart of surface preparation

Fig.2 Schematic diagram of the frost layer propagation visualization system

Fig.3 Comparison of condensation frosting on superhydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces

Fig.4 Schematic diagram of theoretical calculation results

Fig.5 Six different shapes of biphilic surfaces

Fig.6 Frost coverage of RB(D=0.4), RB(D=0.3) and RSB at Tw=-10℃(a), Tw =-15℃(b); Frost propagation velocity (c)

Fig.7 Frost coverage of DRSB-4, DRSB-8 and DRSB-16 at Tw=-10℃(a), Tw =-15℃(b); Frost propagation velocity (c)

Fig.8 Radius and number of droplets on the RB(D=0.4), RB(D=0.3) and RSB at Tw = -10℃

Fig.9 Radius and number of droplets on the DRSB-4, DRSB-8 and DRSB-16 at Tw= -10℃

Fig.10 (a) Mechanism of frost inhibition by hygroscopic solution; (b) Condensation of droplets on RB(D=0.3); (c) Condensation of droplets on DRSB-4; (d) Condensation of droplets on DRSB-8; (e) Condensation of droplets on DRSB-16

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