# Control of frost formation in refrigeration applications utilizing the electrohydrodynamic technique—fundamentals, past work and prospects

## TL;DR

This paper reviews how electrohydrodynamics can be used to control frost formation in refrigeration systems, highlighting gaps in understanding and lack of standardized comparisons.

## Contribution

The paper provides a comprehensive review of EHD's role in frost control and identifies unresolved issues in parameter effects and standardization.

## Key findings

- EHD has been studied since the 1970s for frost prevention and removal in refrigeration systems.
- There is no consensus on the effects of electric field intensity and AC/DC voltage on frost control.
- A lack of standardized baseline makes comparing results across studies difficult.

## Abstract

Frost is an undesirable problem in energy conversion and engineering applications because it negatively affects the operating system performance by reducing the heat transfer for energy conversion systems and the coefficient of performance (COP) for refrigeration and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. Among the various frost prevention or removal techniques, electrohydrodynamics (EHD) is an active frost prevention and removal technique that has been studied since the 1970s. This review paper clarifies the fundamentals of EHD, while offering a comprehensive review of the works published in the literature regarding both the influence of EHD on frost growth control and its effectiveness on frost removal. It is observed that while individual research works have drawn conclusions on the specifics of EHD for frost control and removal, there is no consensus in the literature on the specific effects of some of the critical parameters associated with EHD phenomena, such as the influence of electric field intensity and the use of AC and DC voltage, which can both affect frost growth. In addition, no baseline for comparison has been established, making it difficult to compare the results of various investigators. Finally, prospects and conclusions are discussed.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Heat and mass transfer in frost and ice’.