Abstract
Both theoretical and experimental investigations were conducted to analyze defrosting behavior of a window heater operating in the low outdoor temperature($-20^{\circ}C$). To achieve this purpose, first a warm-chamber experiment($23^{\circ}C$) was performed to measure inner and outer surface temperature of the rear window(heated by the electric heater supplying 195 W) as functions of both time and position. Secondly, a cold chamber experiment was made to continuously record defrosting process of the frosted window. From the comparisons of the two experimental results, it was found that there was a similarity between the spatial distributions of both temperature and remaining frost. Thus, the temperature data from the warm-chamber experiments can be utilized to predict an expected zone covered with remaining frosts, and this approach can also be adopted in the inspection process in order to economically guarantee optimized performance of the window heater. Finally, an analytical model based on one-dimensional, steady-state heat transfer theories was proposed and successfully predicted the outer surface temperature of the rear window surrounded by cold air($-20^{\circ}C$) for the given operating conditions(heater power, inside and outside heat transfer coefficients, and surrounding air temperature, etc.).
