Abstract

The traditional bubble melting ice technology is limited by the problems of dissolved oxygen corrosion, high energy consumption, and uneven temperature field, which restrict the long-term performance and economic benefits of external melting ice storage systems. This study proposes and validates a novel enhanced ice melting scheme based on anaerobic hydraulic jet disturbance. The influence of design parameters of the water distribution system (nozzle diameter, outlet flow velocity, spacing) on the melting process of the bottom ice coil was systematically studied through ANSYS Fluent numerical simulation. The results indicate that hydraulic jets can form effective directional vortices in the ice storage tank, significantly enhancing fluid disturbance and heat transfer around the ice coil. Orthogonal experiments and range analysis revealed that the primary and secondary order of the influence of various parameters on the average melting rate is nozzle diameter>outlet flow velocity>spacing, and obtained the optimal parameter combination of nozzle diameter of 16mm, spacing of 100mm and outlet flow velocity of 20m/s. At this time, the average melting rate can reach 4-5 kg/(m2·s). This case proves that anaerobic hydraulic jet ice melting technology has significant advantages in improving ice melting efficiency, eliminating oxygen corrosion, and reducing system energy consumption, providing new ideas for the optimization design and operation of large-scale external ice melting systems.

Keywords:Ice storage; External melting; Hydraulic jet; Numerical simulation; Enhanced heat transfer; Orthogonal test