Preliminary study on technology for ice-making using natural cold resource based on heat pipe

The daily average temperature is -10℃ for four months in the northern of China. In order to utilize the microthermal climate as the cold resource for storage, an experimental equipment based on heat transferring in the heat pipe which used the natural cold resource to make ice was designed. The effects of wind speed and temperature on the freezing rate were studied by using a refrigerator to simulate the low temperature environment. The results showed that water was made into ice by the experimental equipment successfully without extra energy consumption. The ice layer diameter increased along with the increasing of wind speed between 0 and 2.5 m/s, and the maximum ice layer diameter was 75 mm at -11℃. The ice layer diameter increased along with the decreasing of temperature.