Study the optimum parameters of high voltage electrostatic field thawing

To improve the thawing technique and the thawing efficiency of high voltage electrostatic thawing, reducing the energy consumption, the effects of technical parameters on the thawing rate and energy consumption were investigated. Ice contained in the Petri dish was put in the high voltage electrostatic field which was made up of a multiple point pole and a plate pole. By changing the thawing voltage, the electrode spacing and the distance between the two neighboring needles, the factors related to the thawing rate and energy consumption were quantitatively studied. The results indicate that when the distance between the needle electrodes and the surface of the plate pole is constant, the thawing rate increases linearly while the thawing energy consumption increases nonlinearly with the supplied voltage. When the supplied voltage is not changed, the ice thawing rate and energy consumption are changed with the distance between the two neighboring needles. When the distance between the two neighboring needles is not changed, the ice thawing rate and energy consumption are changed with the electrode spacing. When the electrode spacing is 9 cm, the thawing rate is the highest while the energy consumption is relative least, 45 kV is the optimum value for thawing voltage. (c) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of Society for Automobile, Power and Energy Engineering