Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25C—PRODUCING, WORKING OR HANDLING ICE
  • F25C5/00—Working or handling ice
  • F25C5/02—Apparatus for disintegrating, removing or harvesting ice
  • F25C5/04—Apparatus for disintegrating, removing or harvesting ice without the use of saws
  • F25C5/08—Apparatus for disintegrating, removing or harvesting ice without the use of saws by heating bodies in contact with the ice
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F25—REFRIGERATION OR COOLING; COMBINED HEATING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS; HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS; MANUFACTURE OR STORAGE OF ICE; LIQUEFACTION SOLIDIFICATION OF GASES
  • F25D—REFRIGERATORS; COLD ROOMS; ICE-BOXES; COOLING OR FREEZING APPARATUS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • F25D21/00—Defrosting; Preventing frosting; Removing condensed or defrost water
  • F25D21/06—Removing frost
  • F25D21/08—Removing frost by electric heating
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
  • H05B—ELECTRIC HEATING; ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; CIRCUIT ARRANGEMENTS FOR ELECTRIC LIGHT SOURCES, IN GENERAL
  • H05B3/00—Ohmic-resistance heating
  • H05B3/84—Heating arrangements specially adapted for transparent or reflecting areas, e.g. for demisting or de-icing windows, mirrors or vehicle windshields

Definitions

• Deicing by melting or detaching ice with electrically generated heat has many applications. Some of these applications benefit from minimizing the energy that is applied to the ice and/or object to which the ice is adhered. For example, generation of more heat than is necessary to melt or at least detach ice requires excess expenditure of energy. In some applications, such as in ice making or deicing of refrigeration equipment, the expenditure of extra energy in detaching ice is especially disadvantageous; not only is the ice melting energy expended, but still more energy may be expended by a cooling system to re-cool the part of the system that the ice was detached from.
• a pulse electrothermal deicing apparatus comprises at least one complex shape characterized by a thickness profile configured to generate uniform power per unit area to melt an interfacial layer of ice.
• a method of optimizing thicknesses of complex shapes for a pulse electrothermal deicing system includes: assigning size and geometry to each shape of the pulse electrothermal deicing system and connectivity of the shapes; assigning initial thicknesses to each shape; assigning an initial estimate to a deicing pulse duration; modeling a temperature distribution over the surface of each shape based upon the deicing pulse duration and the thickness of each shape; determining a refreezing time for each shape after application of the deicing pulse; adjusting the thickness of each shape based upon the modeled temperature distribution if the modeled temperature distribution is not within a desired tolerance; adjusting the deicing pulse duration based upon the determined refreezing time and if the determined refreezing time is not within defined limits; and repeating the steps of modeling, determining and adjusting until the temperature distribution is within the desired tolerance and the refreezing time is within defined limits.
• a pulse electrothermal deicing apparatus comprises at least one axially symmetric complex shape characterized by a thickness profile configured to generate uniform power per unit area to melt an interfacial layer of ice.
• FIG. 1 shows one exemplary pulse electrothermal deicing (PETD) apparatus including a flat plate, in accordance with an embodiment.
• PETD pulse electrothermal deicing
• FIG. 2 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus including a cylinder, in accordance with an embodiment.
• FIG. 3 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus including a cone, in accordance with an embodiment.
• FIG. 4 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus including a sphere, in accordance with an embodiment.
• FIG. 5 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus including a crescent, in accordance with an embodiment.
• FIG. 6 shows a rendition of an exemplary ice tray for a residential icemaker having an axially symmetric shape.
• FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one exemplary method for optimizing thicknesses of complex, conductive shapes in a design of a PETD system, in accordance with an embodiment.
• Pulse electrothermal deicing may be utilized to separate "ice” from an object by melting at least an interfacial layer of the ice.
• ice refers to any of ice, snow, frost and other forms of frozen water, with or without admixed substances.
• An "interfacial layer of ice” shall refer to a thin layer of ice proximate to the object. Melting of the interfacial layer of ice is generally sufficient to detach bulk ice (i.e., the unmelted portion of the ice) from the object.
• An interfacial layer of ice may have a thickness of less than about 5 centimeters, preferably less than about 3 centimeters, more preferably between about one centimeter and one micron, and most preferably between about one millimeter and one micron. It will be appreciated that energy applied to heat the interfacial ice will also heat a portion of the object in contact with the interfacial ice. It is desirable that heat diffuses a distance of less than about 5 centimeters into the object and/or ice, preferably less than about 3 centimeters into the object and/or ice, more preferably between about one centimeter and one micron into the object and/or ice, and most preferably between about one millimeter and one micron into the object and/or ice.
• an apparatus utilizing PETD should provide an approximately constant density of heating power per surface area of the interfacial ice layer.
• a constant density of heating power per surface area can be difficult to achieve when an object to be deiced has a complex shape.
• a "complex shape” is a portion of an object having one or more non-uniformly thick walls.
• the complex shape can be described by a "thickness profile", which defines the thickness of the wall over a distance (e.g., from one point on the object to another point on the object).
• a heating layer of an object is characterized by an electrical resistivity/) and a thickness t.
• Equation (2) is approximate because it does not take into account dependence of heat capacitance of the heating layer on the object thickness. However, Eq. (2) is very useful because heat capacitance is usually a very small term in total PETD energy requirements as compared to heat capacitance of ice, underlying structure, and latent heat of the melted interfacial ice layer.
• FIG. 1 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus 10(1) including a flat plate 40(1).
• FIG. 1 may not be drawn to scale.
• a power supply 20(1) connects to flat plate 40(1) through a switch 30(1) to supply power to plate 40(1) for deicing.
• Length L and thickness t of plate 40(1) are indicated in FIG. 1.
• power supply 20(1) supplies a voltage V
• the power ⁇ supplied by power supply 20(1) may be expressed in terms of power per unit area as:
• V 2 - t W Eq. (3) p - L 2
• FIG. 2 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus 10(2) including a cylinder 40(2).
• FIG. 2 may not be drawn to scale.
• a power supply 20(2) connects to cylinder 40(2) through a switch 30(2) to supply power to cylinder 40(2) for deicing.
• Length L and thickness t of cylinder 40(2) are indicated in FIG. 2.
• the power W supplied by power supply 20(2) may be expressed in terms of power per unit area as shown in Eq. (3), which describes objects having constant thickness.
• FIG. 3 shows a cross-section of one exemplary PETD apparatus 10(3) including a cone 40(3).
• FIG. 3 may not be drawn to scale.
• a power supply 20(3) connects through a switch 30(3) to supply power to cone 40(3) for deicing.
• a linear dimension x, an angle ⁇ with respect to the x axis, and a thickness t of cone 40(3) are indicated in FIG. 3. Note that thickness t varies with position along the x axis of cone 40(3).
• power supply 20(3) supplies a voltage V and a current IQ
• thickness t required to provide a constant power W per unit area, may be expressed as:
• FIG. 4 shows a cross-section of one exemplary PETD apparatus 10(4) including a sphere 40(4).
• FIG. 4 may not be drawn to scale.
• a power supply 20(4) connects to sphere 40(4) through a switch 30(4) to supply power to sphere 40(4) for deicing.
• a radius R, an angle ⁇ with respect to an axis along which power is supplied, and a thickness t of sphere 40(4) are indicated in FIG. 4. Note that thickness t of sphere 40(4) varies with angle ⁇ .
• power supply 20(4) supplies a voltage V and a current IQ
• thickness t required to provide a constant power ⁇ Fper unit area, may be expressed as:
• FIG. 5 shows one exemplary PETD apparatus 10(5) including a crescent 40(5).
• FIG. 5 may not be drawn to scale.
• Crescent 40(5) may be generated by revolving a line about an axis of rotation.
• Such shapes may be useful, for example, in icemakers wherein a shape is (1) filled with liquid water, (2) cooled until the water freezes to form ice, (3) rotated so that the ice faces downward, and (4) heated with a deicing pulse to release the ice from the shape.
• a power supply 20(5) connects through a switch 30(5) to supply power to crescent 40(5) for deicing.
• a linear dimension x, an offset value R(x) that is a function of position on the x axis, and a thickness t of crescent 40(5) are indicated in FIG. 5. Note that thickness t of shape 40(5) varies with R(x). It can be shown that if power supply 20(5) supplies a voltage V and current / ⁇ , thickness t, required to provide a constant power W per unit area, may be expressed as:
• FIG. 6 shows a rendition of an ice tray 50 for a residential icemaker.
• An icemaker utilizing ice tray 50 may be made of a thermally and electrically conductive composite material, such as E5101 by CoolPolymers, Inc.
• An inner shape 40(6) of ice tray 50 is axially symmetric. To form ice, tray 50 is disposed with inner shape 40(6) facing upward. Tray 50 is then filled with water.
• tray 50 After the water freezes into ice, tray 50 is rotated about its long axis by about 120° and a two second pulse of electrical power is applied across copper bus bars disposed on terminal ends 60(1), 60(2) of tray 50. The electrical power heats tray 50 uniformly to a temperature just above the melting point of the ice, thus melting an interfacial layer of the ice. The ice then slides off tray 50 and into a collection bin (not shown). It is appreciated that tray 50 includes a complex, variable thickness. The thickness may be calculated utilizing Eq. (6), then the thickness may be adjusted at certain locations, such as corners, according to a method described below.
• FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating one exemplary method 100 for optimizing thicknesses of complex, conductive shapes in a PETD system design. It will be appreciated that some or all of the steps illustrated in FIG. 7 may be performed by a computer under control of software instructions; alternatively, some or all of the steps of FIG. 7 may be performed by a human.
• step 102 method 100 assigns a size and geometry type to each shape of the deicing system, and connections among the shapes.
• step 104 method 100 assigns an initial thickness configuration to each shape; such configuration may include a fixed thickness (e.g., as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and Eq.
• step 106 deicing pulse parameters, such as voltage or current supplied, and an initial estimate of a deicing pulse duration are assigned.
• step 108 a temperature distribution, a temperature range and a refreezing time achieved for the specified shapes with the specified deicing pulse are determined. Step 108 may be performed, for example, utilizing finite element method modeling using a package such as FEMLAB 3.1 by Comsol, Inc.
• Step 110 is a decision that determines whether or not the temperature range is within a specified tolerance.
• Step 116 is a decision.
• the refreezing time is compared to specified minimum and maximum limits. If the refreezing time is too short (i.e., below the specified minimum limit), the deicing pulse is lengthened in step 118; if the refreezing time is too long (i.e., above the specified maximum), the deicing pulse is shortened in step 120.
• power parameters of the deicing pulse may also be modified, such as to provide more or less power, instead of or in addition to changing the duration of the deicing pulse. If any of the shape thicknesses and the refreezing times changed in steps 112, 114, 118 and/or 120, the method returns to step 108; otherwise, the method finishes and outputs a set of optimized thickness and deicing pulse parameters in step 122.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
• Water Treatment By Electricity Or Magnetism (AREA)
• Production, Working, Storing, Or Distribution Of Ice (AREA)
• Apparatus For Disinfection Or Sterilisation (AREA)

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• 2007
  • 2007-05-22 CN CNA2007800250895A patent/CN101484763A/zh active Pending
  • 2007-05-22 EP EP07868287A patent/EP2032916A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2007-05-22 WO PCT/US2007/069478 patent/WO2008060696A2/en not_active Ceased
  • 2007-05-22 KR KR1020087030997A patent/KR20090024171A/ko not_active Withdrawn
  • 2007-05-22 US US12/302,240 patent/US20100059503A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2007-05-22 CA CA002653021A patent/CA2653021A1/en not_active Abandoned

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