Investigation of icephobic coatings for supercooling heat exchangers under submerged conditions using ice detection equipment

By using ice slurry generated through a supercooler as storage, it is possible to reduce energy consumption due to high energy density and heat transfer rate along with the phase change. The supercooled water will then be disturbed to create ice crystals in a crystalizer. The main challenge is to prevent the formation of ice in the supercooler since this leads to its blockage. One aim of the European H2020 TRI-HP project is to develop icephobic coatings for supercoolers, that promote high-water supercooling and avoid the formation of ice. In this study, three coatings to prevent or depress freezing in supercoolers are investigated. Specialised equipment for testing freezing on submerged surfaces has been developed, and the results have been correlated to standard surface properties like roughness and contact angle. It was found that the submerged surfaces do not necessarily follow normal icing theory, where freeze depression is related to contact angle. Instead, it is believed that the mobility of surface additives in amphiphilic coatings has an important role