Dynamic behavior of a direct expansion evaporator under frosting condition. Part II. Field investigation on a shipping container

A field investigation is performed on the frost formation at an evaporator of a commercial full-scale refrigerated container that uses R-12 as the working refrigerant. Results when compared with those from a numerical model presented earlier show that the model is capable of predicting the dynamic behavior of a direct expansion evaporator under both non-frosting and frosting conditions. The air outlet and energy transferred compare well between experiment and model, and within 20% for the air pressure drop. The frost occurrence and propagation agree well generally, with the frost formation first occurring at the first row where the refrigerant enters the evaporator.