Melting heat transfer in rectangular cavity filled with ice slurry heated from below

Ice slurry is a homogeneous mixture of small ice particles and a carrier liquid. It is widely used in many fields. Previous studies have gradually clarified its heat transfer in high ice packing factor (IPF). However, only a few studies have focused on the mechanism of heat transfer with low IPF in a cavity heated from below. The objective of this study is to experimentally clarify the melting heat transfer of ice slurry in a cavity heated from below with low IPF to develop a direct contact medical cooling system. To observe the melting behavior of ice slurry, the test section was made of acrylic resin (100 mm × 60 mm× 30 mm) and a silicone rubber heater that was used for heating under constant heat flux conditions. We measured the surface temperature of the heater and the liquid thickness. We showed that the melting process can be divided into three stages. In the first stage, heat conduction dominated the process of heat transfer and the temperature of the heater rapidly increased. In the second stage, natural convection heat transfer dominated the process of heat transfer that increased the melting rate of ice slurry and decreased the temperature of the heater. In the third stage, heat conduction dominated the process of heat transfer in the concentration stratification. This led to a decrease in the melting rate and an increase in the temperature of the heater. Our result also showed that the melting process of the ice slurry is slow enough to consider it the quasi-steady state in the range of 104 < Ra∗ < 107 as compared to the development of the velocity and temperature fields.