Study on a method to induce freezing of supercooled solution using a membrane

Supercooling state is a statistical phenomenon and it is difficult to control solidification. For example, in the area of transportation in cold chain, package with salt water as a cold storage material is placed with food to keep the temperature inside the container constant. It is necessary to freeze the cold storage material before loading, but supercooling phenomenon exists to suppress the solidification. A new method introduced in this report does not need any special handling to induce solidification, and furthermore an electrical power for refrigerator can be reduced, significantly. Experiments were carried out and the behavior of propagation of ice was investigated. Propagation phenomenon was clarified by varying the concentration and the degree of supercooling. It was found that the ice propagates through membrane especially at a higher degree of supercooling.