Results of an Experimental Investigation into the Use of Low-Temperature Heat Pipes for Accumulation of Winter Cold

Refrigeration technologies are most important components in the production, transportation, and storage of milk and dairy products. The goal of this investigation is to determine the possibility of accumulating natural cold with the help of a low-temperature heat pipe and to conduct an experiment on the possibility of using this method in milk cooling systems. The use of ice formed and accumulated in milk cooling equipment using heat pipes does not require additional external energy; on the contrary, it saves it, reduces operational costs, decreases the amount of the cooling agent to be used, and provides a possibility to stop using cold producing machines. Experiments have shown that ice can form on the evaporator surface when 15% of a heat pipe′s volume is filled with a cooling agent. On the surfaces of copper heat pipes with an evaporator with a length of 1 m and a diameter of 22 mm filled with R404A or R134A refrigerants, at a temperature of the ambient air from –9 to –24°C, there was formed an ice cylinder with a mass of 3–4 kg and a diameter of 100–120 mm. We present the results of experimental investigations and a description of a device for accumulating winter cold by ice formation with the help of low-temperature heat pipes and cooling milk with ice water.