• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.29-38
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• 2001

In this paper, the defrosting characteristics of a PTC heating sheet is investigated by means of a defrosting heat source for the fin-tube heat exchanger in a refrigerator The defrosting characteristics of the PTC heating sheet are examined and compared with those of a conventional electric heater experimentally. It is found that the characteristics of the water draining rate with the defrosting time show a smoothly oscillating pattern when the PTC heating sheet Is used, and the drained water is completely melted. The defrosting efficiency of the PTC heating sheet is found to be about 75%, which is about 25% higher than that of the electric heater. Also, the reduction of the defrosting time and the increment of the defrosting efficiency may be obtained by improving the arrangement of the heating elements of the healing sheet. It is shown that the defrosting time of the PTC heating sheet increases linearly with the amount of frost, whereas the defrosting efficiency is nearly constant. When applying the PTC heating sheet to the refrigerating system, one should notice the fact that the defrosting performance of the PTC heating sheet may be degraded due to the repetitive operations.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.147-155
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• 1999

In this work, the defrosting characteristics of PTC heating sheet used as a defrosting heat source of fin-tube heat exchanger in a refrigerator have been experimentally compared with those of conventional electric heater. It is found that the characteristics of water draining rate with defrosting time show smoothly oscillating pattern when PTC heating sheet is used, and the drained water is completely melted. The defrosting efficiency of the PTC heating sheet is about 75%, which represents about 25% higher than that of the electric heater. A reduction of defrosting time and an increase of defrosting efficiency may be obtained by improving the arrangement of heating elements of the heating sheet. It is shown that the defrosting time of PTC heating sheet increases linearly with the amount of frost, however the defrosting efficiency is nearly constant. In the application to the refrigerating system, one should notice the fact that the defrosting performance of PTC heating sheet may be defraded due to the repeated operations.

• Journal of Auto-vehicle Safety Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.44-50
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• 2024

The windshield of a vehicle plays an important role in ensuring driver safety and maintaining visibility. To prevent issues such as frost and mist from occurring inside and outside the vehicle, research related to the defrosting performance of the windshield is being conducted. Evaluating defrosting performance requires accurate thermal flow analyses. Therefore, in this study, a defrosting duct was constructed within a chamber at an actual vehicle scale to evaluate its performance, and a finite element model was developed and verified. To evaluate defrosting performance, the temperature of the windshield was measured under condition with a mass flow rate of 0.1 kg/s, which corresponds to that of a typical midsize vehicle. A total of 45 thermocouples were arranged at equal intervals of 9 widths and 5 lengths on the windshield to measure the temperature and compare it with the temperature predicted through finite element analysis. A volume grid was created in the main flow area to ensure accurate thermal flow analyses, and a prism layer was added at the interface between the windshield and fluid. In total, 6 million grid systems were formed. Comparing the temperature fields of the experimental results and the finite element analysis results confirmed a similar defrosting pattern, with an average temperature difference of 0.64K.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.60-68
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• 1993

Flows inside a passenger compartment of a 1/5 scale model vehicle have been simulated by using a general purpose FVM code, TURBO-3D. Three HVAC modes of heating, air-conditioning, and defrosting are simulated by defining three different inlets. Comparisons are made with the published experimental and computational results, giving a good agreement. A method of predicting the defrosting contours on the wind shield is also proposed in the present study, which enables design modifications in design stages.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.123-134
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• 1999

Nowadays since the automobile is regarded as the third living space, comfortable conditions are required in the passenger compartment. The customer's concern on air-conditioning/heating, ventilation and demisting/defrosting performances has been much increased. Both ventilation and demisting /defrosting performances are directly influenced by register location, shape of regist guide vane, ventilation flow rate, air distribution , and air circulation pattern. Diffuse plume of air from the register is desirable not only to maintain comfort when the comfort when the comfortable condition has been satisfied but to improve demisting /defrosting performance. In this study, experimental and numerical investigation about the flow field of six different register vane types were carried out , respectively. The numerical analysis, based upon the $textsc{k}$-$\varepsilon$ turbulence model , was applied to the air flow field. The results show that the shape of register guide vane should be considered as an important design paramter.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.789-794
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• 2008

Recently, much attention has been paid in the field of defrosting because clear windshield in vehicle without effecting the thermal comfort is realized essentially. Then in winter, defrosting performance is one of the important factors in vehicle design to make certain driver's view. In this study, the velocity profile, temperature distribution and frost melting pattern on the windshield screen have been predicted in three dimensional geometry of an automobile interior. Numerical analyses predict a detailed description of fluid flow and temperature patterns on the inside windshield screen, utilizing the flow through defroster nozzle. Numerical prediction established a good defrosting performance with the standard distance ratio and the defroster nozzle angle ranging from $30^{\circ}$ to $40^{\circ}$, which satisfy the condition of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) completely.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 2011

The heating, ventilating, air conditioning (HVAC) system is a very important part of an automotive vehicle: it controls the microclimate inside the passenger's compartment and removes the frost or mist that is produced in cold/rainy weather. In this study, the numerical analysis of the defrost duct in an HVAC system and the de-icing pattern is carried out using commercial CFX-code. The mass flow distribution and flow structure at the outlet of the defrost duct satisfied the duct design specification. For analyzing the de-icing pattern, additional grid generation of solid domain of ice and glass is pre-defined for conductive heat transfer. The flow structure near the windshield, streakline, and temperature fields clearly indicate that the de-icing capacity of the given defrost duct configuration is excellent and that it can be operated in a stable manner. In this paper, the unsteady changes in temperature, water volume fraction, and static enthalpy at four monitoring points are discussed.