• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.226-233
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• 1993

Thermosyphons are simple devices that can passively transport thermal energy over relatively large distance with little temperature degradation. Especially, the thermosyphon system requires no costly energy input and is completely maintenance free. These attributes permit the use of low grade thermal energy for thermal control of structures including the stabilization of highway foundations. This paper presents the experimental results of the snow melting system in which thermosyphon was utilized to ransfer the earth energy to the pavement to remove snow and ice. The test facility, three earth heated and one unheated test panels, is designed to investigate the variables associated with removing snow and ice from pavement surfaces. The results of these test show that the earth heated panel surface temperature is higher $2{\sim}6^{\circ}C$ than unheated panel when the ambient air temperature is $-7^{\circ}C$. The thermal performance of this earth source thermosyphon system for road heating showed that there was no snow on the heated test panels when the snowfall was 5cm average for the region.