Experimental Study on the Dependency of Ice Nucleation Active Surface Site Density on ATD Aerosol Size

In light of the percentage of Earth’s cloud coverage, heterogeneous ice nucleation in clouds is the most important global-scale pathway. More recent parameterizations of ice nucleation processes in the atmosphere are based on the concept of ice nucleation active surface site density (ns). It is usually assumed that ns is independent of time and aerosol size distribution, i.e. that the surface properties of aerosols of the same species do not vary with size. However, the independence of ns on aerosol size for every species has been questioned. This study presents the results of ice nucleation processes of ATD laboratory-generated aerosol (particle diameters of 0 - 3 μm). Ice nucleation in the condensation mode was performed in a Dynamic Filter Processing Cham- ber at temperatures of -18°C and -22°C, with a saturation ratio with respect to water of 1.02. Results show that ns increased by lowering the nucleation temperature, and was also dependent on the particle size. The ns of particles collected on the filters, after a 0.5 μm D50 cut-off cyclone, resulted statistically higher with respect to the values obtained from the particles collected on total filters. The results obtained suggest the need for further investigation of ns dependence of same composition aerosol particles with a view to support weather and climate predictions.

Numerical study on critical flow velocity of ice slurry in the pipe of ice source heat pump system

The traditional evaporator of water source heat pump system is easy to freeze when the water source temperature is too low in winter.A novel ice source heat pump system is proposed,which can use low temperature surface water to supply heat to buildings.One of the key problems for safe transportation is velocity range of ice slurry in ice outlet pipeline.In order to study the critical flow velocity of ice slurry in the pipe,an Euler model of horizontal straight pipe and 90°elbow pipe were established by Fluent software.The influence of five factors on the critical flow velocity of two kinds of pipes,including initial ice packing fraction,ice particle size,pipe diameter,length of straight pipe and radius curvature of elbow was studied.It found that the initial ice content should be controlled from 10%to 15%.The inlet flow rate was 20%higher than the critical flow rate under the most unfavorable condition.Ice particle size was less than 0.2 mm.The total length of ice discharge pipeline was less than 50 m.Curvature radius of the bend should be met the minimum requirements of the specification of the pipe used.

Effects of nanoparticles on devitrification and recrystallization of aqueous glycerol and PEG-600 solutions

Nanoparticles in solution offer unique electrical, mechanical and thermal properties due to their physical presence and interac- tion with the state of dispersion. This work is aimed to study the effects of hydroxyapatite （HA） nanoparticles on the behavior of devitrification and recrystallization of glycerol （60% w/w） and PEG-600 （50% w/w） solutions during warming. HA nano- particles of different sizes （20, 40, 60 nm） and concentrations （0.1%, 0.5%, w/w） were incorporated into solutions, and were studied by calorimetric analysis coupled with cryomicroscopy. The presence of HA nanoparticles has little effect on the devit- rification end temperatures, but affects the devitrification onset temperatures of glycerol and PEG-600 solutions. The investi- gation with the cryomicroscope observed that the ice morphologies of glycerol and PEG-600 solutions are dendritic and spher- ic respectively. The ice fraction of glycerol solution containing 0.1% HA with the size of 60 nm decreased to 2/5 of that of the solution without nanoparticles at -45℃. The ice fractions of PEG-600 solutions increased signifcantly between -64℃ and -54℃, and the ice fraction of PEG-600 solution without nanoparticles increased by 92% within the temperature range. The findings have significant implications for biomaterial cryopreservation, cryosurgery, and food manufacturing. The complexity of ice crystal growth kinetics in nanoparticle-containing solutions awaits further study.