Defrost Load: Hot Subject

In a Cold Freezer
By Daniel Kramer, P.E.
Fellow ASHRAE

he following analysis is offered

for the purpose of stimulating
discussion from which ARI and
ASHRAE committees may establish standard procedures for
determining and reporting refrigeration
loads arising from defrost.
While coil manufacturers test and publish accurate ratings on their low temperature coils in accord with ASHRAE or ARI
standards, few coil manufacturers provide
rating information about the heat gain or
additional refrigeration loads or loss of
refrigerating time arising from their coil
defrosts. System designers frequently
guess at this portion of the load by calculating the known load based on 24
hours but selecting the equipment based
on 18 hours of operation, or some other
approximation.
Defrost Frequency and
Auto-Termination
Some modern defrost controls use proprietary algorithms to predict correct times
for defrost start and duration. With respect
to the following discussion of defrost heat
loads and frost capacity, maximum benefits will result if defrosts are initiated only
when needed and terminated when correct coil temperatures are reached.
Frost-Load Capacity and
Required Defrost Frequency
Coil manufacturers cannot reasonably
specify how many daily defrosts their
coils might require, since this depends
on the mass of frost each coil can accumulate before its capacity has decreased
to a predetermined limit (the D condition). The coil capable of accumulating
much frost before reaching D will need
fewer defrosts per day than the coil capable of accumulating only a little frost
before reaching that condition.

February 2001

Determining Frost-Load Capacity

Manufacturers who runs the ARI capacity rating test can simply prolong their
rating test on a clean coil, allowing frost
to accumulate slowly, until the D condition is reached. They can then defrost
the coil and weigh the accumulated frost
and publish that weight as Recommended Maximum Frost Load or Rated
Frost Load as part of their coil rating.
While different frosting conditions will
cause different weights of frost to deposit,
before D condition is reached, savvy
manufacturers will select the conditions
that accumulates the most frost. Standards for determining the D condition
and for observing the Rated Frost Load
are a proper subject for ASHRAE or ARI
Standards. They should agree on both.

temperature should be about the same,

regardless of the heat source.

Heat Load From One Defrost

Defrost heat load is the heat required
to heat the coil metal plus the heat lost to
the box. The amount of heat required to
heat the coil metal is independent of time.
The amount of heat lost to the box, including vaporization of frost, is time dependent. The heat required to thaw the
frost does not have to be removed by the
refrigeration system and is not part of the
defrost heat load.
Electric Defrost. The refrigeration load
imposed by a single electric defrost is simply the defrost heater watts times the
heater on-time less the enthalpy change
of frost that is thawed and flows out the
drain.
Hot Gas Defrost. Heat input to hot gas
defrosted coils is much more difficult to
measure because the refrigerant leaving
the defrosting coil is generally mixed
phase (not a pure liquid or vapor).
However, it would be fair to assume that
both electrically heated and hot gas
heated coils would have the same initial
and final temperatures. Therefore the
amount required to heat the coil metal
alone from freezer temperature to defrost

Conclusions
The industry would benefit from manufacturers agreeing on and publishing the
following:
1. A D condition, that is, a condition
representing a standardized fraction of
capacity loss arising from frosting at
which defrosting should be initiated;
2. A frost mass that a rated coil can accumulate before its capacity falls to the
D condition;
3. Typical time required for defrosting a
coil having been frosted to the D
condition; and
4. The approximate heat load imposed on
the system by each defrost.
The availability of this information
would allow application engineers to
more exactly calculate refrigeration loads
and to make rational equipment selections
thereby stimulating competition among
manufacturers. Such competition would
benefit our industry and ultimately lead
to reduced freezer energy requirements.

Coil Heat Loss Calibration

The effective specific heat of a coil can
be calculated from the weights and specific heats of its components. Temporarily
equipping a hot gas defrost coil with electric heaters and terminating defrost at the
same final temperatures would permit calculation of a heat loss factor that is time
dependent. Alternately, running several
defrosts with different electric heat inputs
would vary the defrost durations and allow the development of simultaneous
equations from which the integral of coil
material masses times their specific heats,
and the heat loss factor could be calculated.

Daniel E. Kramer, P.E., is a consultant

on commercial and industrial refrigeration systems and is a patent attorney.
ASHRAE Journal

63