Considering only the review papers in frosting in heat/energy exchangers in showed that no comprehensive review for frosting in air-to-air heat/energy exchangers. Most of reviews are in frosting in heat pumps, or frost properties. This review paper will focus on those papers relating to plate heat exchangers and energy wheels.
Effective anti-frosting techniques can enhance the overall energy performance of ASHPs by maintaining relatively stable heating capacity before the system experiences significant performance decline.
If no condensation or frosting happens in an exchanger and the change in air properties are not significant, the effectiveness of an exchanger is independent of the inlet air properties . Otherwise, frosting affects the efficiency of the HRV or effectiveness of the exchanger.
Considering both IAQ and frosting problem, the best recommendation for cold regions was to use recuperative energy exchangers. However, further investigation did not reveal more studies to consider recuperative energy exchangers such as membrane based exchanger under frosting.
Studies of anti-frosting, defrosting techniques and their impact on Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) from 2018 to 2023 are reviewed: The characteristics of frost layer growth and the influential factors that affect the frosting process are summarized. Two types of 4 anti-frosting techniques are classified and analyzed.
Otherwise, frosting affects the efficiency of the HRV or effectiveness of the exchanger. For example, an increase in the pressure drop or decrease in flow rate through an exchanger, caused by frosting, changes the working point of the fan delivering the airflow, which reduces the performance of the fan.