Ultrasonic guided wave phased array focusing technology and its application to defrosting performance improvement of air-source heat pumps

Previous studies have indicated that a basic frost layer negatively affects the heat-transfer efficiency and is difficult to remove using a single ultrasonic transducer. Herein, an ultrasonic phased array technology is proposed for evaporator coil defrosting. First, the dispersion curve of the guided wave in the vibration transfer plate and frosting fin is calculated, and the advance time of each ultrasonic vibrator and the ultrasonic near-field pressures under different velocities are determined through numerical calculations using the MATLAB software. Next, according to the advance time, ultrasonic array focusing is performed to remove the basic frost layer. Finally, the power consumption, heat-supply enthalpy difference, and coefficient of performance (COP) of the air-source heat pump (ASHP) unit are analysed. The theoretical analysis, numerical calculations, and experimental results consistently revealed that ultrasonic array focusing compensates for the energy dissipation and expends the effective defrosting area. Additionally, the perpendicular stress elicited by the Lamb wave and the differential transverse shear stress generated by the SH wave exceed the tensile strength and adhesion stress of the basic frost layer. The basic frost layer cracks and falls away, owing to the combination of the ultrasonic stress effect and the cavitation effect. The defrosting power consumption of the ASHP unit under ultrasonic array excitation decreases from −3.27% to 0.12%, whereas the heat-supply enthalpy difference increases from 4.47% to 10.86%. Therefore, the percentage increment of the COP is between 7.16% and 11.12%, and the power consumption of the reverse-cycle defrosting is 3-12 times that of ultrasonic array defrosting.