消除或最小化空气源热泵的除霜惩罚将提高其能源效率和市场渗透率。初步研究表明，在热泵的室外盘管上涂覆防冰涂层将减少（或延迟）结霜和除霜要求。此外，涂层可以更快地脱冰，缩短除霜时间。先前的纳米技术研究表明，表面纹理为10到20微米厚的普通聚合物层会影响金属基底的传热特性。鉴于组装式换热器中翅片之间的间隙很小，因此开发了一种程序来应用这一概念，以改善热泵应用中的传热性能。 通过对住宅式2.5吨热泵系统的实验研究，探讨了这一概念的可行性。对两台相同热泵的室外盘管进行了改造，以加入一层防冰涂层。为此，将线圈从室外机上拆下。翅片表面用酸蚀粗糙，并涂上一层近单分子的高排斥性材料。表面粗糙化可以产生类似于粒子法的纹理。使用单体和低分子量低聚物衍生出一种非常薄的涂层系统。然后，通过在线圈上反复浇注，来涂覆该涂层系统。两个线圈的处理方式相同。在进行处理后，将线圈重新组装到室外装置中，并准备进行实验测试。 使用环境室和温度控制风洞，进行了大量实验，将涂层线圈原型与未修改的基准装置进行比较。测试是在受控条件下进行的，用于量化每个机组之间结霜和除霜循环时间的差异。两种涂层线圈在减少结霜方面都比基线条件有所改善，尽管结果不一致，可能是因为不均匀地应用了防冰涂层。最终，这项工作显示了防冰涂层的潜力，但需要更多的工作来解决制造技术和操作挑战。例如，在组装成盘管之前对翅片进行涂层，可以改善防冰涂层的应用过程和盘管的性能。 引文:2017年冬季会议，内华达州拉斯维加斯，会议论文

Eliminating or minimizing the defrost penalty of air source heat pumps will increase their energy efficiency and their market penetration. Preliminary research suggests that coating the outdoor coil of a heat pump with an icephobic coating will lead to reduced (or delayed) frost accumulation and defrosting requirements. Additionally, the coatings may allow faster shedding of ice and shorten the defrost duration.Prior research in nanotechnology has shown that a normal layer of polymer with particles for surface texture approximately 10 to 20 microns thick impacted the heat transfer characteristics of a metal substrate. Given the small clearance between fins in an assembled heat exchanger, a procedure was developed to apply this concept to improve heat transfer performance in heat pump applications.Feasibility of this concept was explored through experimental investigation of a residential-style 2.5-ton heat pump system. The outdoor coils of two identical heat pumps were modified to incorporate an icephobic coating. To do so, the coils were removed from the outdoor units. The fin surfaces were roughened with an acid etch and a near mono-molecular layer of a highly repellent material was applied. Roughening the surface can bring about texture similar to the particle method. A very thin coating system was derived using a monomer and a low molecular weight oligomer. This coating system was then applied by pouring it repeatedly over the coils. Both coils were treated in the same fashion.After treatment was applied, the coils were reassembled in the outdoor units and prepared for experimental testing. Using an environmental chamber and temperature-controlled wind tunnel, extensive experiments were conducted to compare the coated coil prototypes against a baseline unit that was not modified. Testing was conducted under controlled conditions and served to quantify the difference in frost accumulation and defrost cycle times between each of the units. Both coated coils showed improvement over the baseline condition in terms of reduced frost accumulation, though results were inconsistent, likely due to uneven application of the icephobic coating. Ultimately, this effort shows the potential of an icephobic coating, but more work is required to address manufacturing techniques and operational challenges. Coating fins prior to assembly into coils, for example, could improve both the process of application of the icephobic coating and coil performance.