Experimental analysis on pressure drop and heat transfer of a terminal fan-coil unit with ice slurry as cooling medium

This paper is concerned with the experimental analysis of a standard terminal fan-coil unit with ice slurry as coolant. The ice slurry was produced from an ethylene glycol 10 wt% aqueous solution. The pressure drop measurements are presented as a function of volumetric flow rate, ice concentration and Reynolds number. The experimental friction factors are obtained and discussed. The fan-coil capacity was experimentally determined for chilled water and melting ice slurry with inlet ice fractions around 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt%, considering in each case three different fan rotation velocities. The fan-coil capacity is higher with melting ice slurry than with chilled water by factors between 3.7 and 4.9. The heat transfer analysis realizes that the air side thermal resistance controls the heat transfer process. Experimental results for the melt off rate of ice in the fan coil and the superheating at the fan-coil outlet are shown and discussed.