Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Cold Regions Science and Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/coldregions

Self-deicing road system with a CNFP high-efficiency thermal source and

MWCNT/cement-based high-thermal conductive composites
Hui Li ⁎, Qiangqiang Zhang, Huigang Xiao
School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A novel self-deicing road system with utilization of solar energy was proposed in this paper, this system is
Received 30 March 2012 consisted of a carbon nano-fiber polymer (CNFP) thermal source, an AlN-ceramic insulated encapsulation
Accepted 15 October 2012 layer, a multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)/cement-based thermal conduction layer and a thermally insu-
lated substrate. The electric and thermo-electric properties of a CNFP, which is composed of individual carbon
Keywords:
nano-fibers (10–200 nm), were tested. The property of high thermo-electric efficiency was verified, and the
Deicing
CNFP
resistivity of the CNFP exhibited piecewise linear temperature-dependent characteristics within a certain
Thermo-electrical property temperature range (0–280 °C). The MWCNT/cement-based composite, which was filled with 3% by weight
MWCNT/cement-based composite MWCNT, was proposed as the thermal conduction layer because its thermal conduction properties are superior
Snow-melting to those of cement with other fillers and to those of common cement-based composites. To ensure the efficient
operation of the CNFP, an AlN-ceramic wafer (0.5 mm) was employed as the electro-insulated layer because of
its favorable insulating and thermo-conductive properties. The constructed system was applied in deicing and
field snow-melting studies, in which the effects of ambient temperature, heat flux density and ice thickness on
the deicing and snow-melting performance of the self-deicing system were investigated. The efficiency, repeat-
ability, cost and feasibility of the self-deicing road system in both deicing and snow-melting applications were
analyzed. Indices for evaluating the deicing or snow-melting performance of the self-deicing road system were
proposed and the optimal values for each parameter are presented.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction deicing (George and Charles, 2011). Therefore, the development of a

In the winter, snow and ice on the roads not only frequently block
traffic but also seriously endanger people's lives and assets, even poten-
tially threatening the operation of national defense facilities, such as
airport runways and ship decks, during periods of war. The official
statistics indicate that snow and ice are the cause of 10% to 15% of traffic
accidents annually (Feng and Li., 2009; Hou et al., 2002; Yehia et al.,
2000), leading to tremendous economic losses and casualties. Although
traditional snow-clearing or deicing methods, such as mechanical
sweeping and chemical measures (i.e., sodium chloride, calcium
chloride and magnesium chloride), have been widely used in trans-
portation systems, these methods are limited by their potentially
harmful effects on the environment and on reinforced concrete
(such as pollution and corrosion) (Harnick et al., 1980; Lee et al.,
2000; Litvan, 1976; Wang et al., 2006). Some special techniques,
such as Aircraft Deicing Fluids (ADFs), have proven to be very effective,
but they are very expensive and thus not practical for wide use in road
⁎ Corresponding author. Fax: +86 451 86282013.
E-mail addresses: lihui@hit.edu.cn (H. Li), zhangqq_hit@126.com (Q. Zhang),
xiaohg@hit.edu.cn (H. Xiao).
controllable, efficient and low cost deicing technology is still needed.
A number of snow-melting/deicing techniques utilizing terrestrial
heat power were developed by Ferrara et al. (Ferrara and Haslett,
1975; Lee, 1984; Long and Baldwin, 1981; Tanaka, 1981). Because of
their inconvenience, low efficiency and high cost, these techniques
were not adapted for widespread application. Conductive concrete,
which also plays a role as the structural material in roads, is regarded
as a potential avenue to the development of a self-deicing road system.
In 1999, a type of conductive concrete filled with steel fiber was pro-
posed in (Yehia et al., 2000), and the deicing performance of this
concrete in bridges was investigated. Although this technique can
deice a certain amount of ice on the bridge, it has not been widely
used for deicing/snow melting to date because of issues such as
high resistivity, low electro-thermal efficiency and steel fiber corro-
sion. A conductive concrete filled with carbon fiber was also proposed,
with the goal of utilizing the Joule heating effect to melt snow (Hou
et al., 2002). Despite a great improvement in the electro-thermal
efficiency, this material was still not widely used in deicing/snow
melting because of low thermal efficiency, high resistance and
applied voltage. Fortunately, a new deicing method based on a carbon
nanofiber heating element was developed by Chang et al. (2009).
the feasibility of this deicing method was verified, the thermal conduc-
tivity of this system was still relatively low, and the effect of the heat

0165-232X/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2012.10.007
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35 23

flux density, wind speed, the surrounding temperature and the thick-
ness of the ice layer on the deicing performance of this method were
not investigated (Chang et al., 2009). Afterwards, another new method
of deicing with carbon fiber heating wire (CFHW) buried inside con-
crete slab was proposed by Zhao et al. (2010). To verify the feasibility
of the proposed deicing approach, the appropriate space of embedded
CEHW in concrete slab and the deicing/snow-melting performance of
this slab in laboratory and field environments were studied by the
experiments, which indicated that the electro-thermal method of
CFHW for bridge deck deicing is practicable (Zhao et al., 2010,
2011). Obviously, the key factor that determines the applicability of
electro-thermal-based deicing approach is the electro-thermal
efficiency.
Based on its good electro-thermal properties, the CNFP-based self-
deicing system for roads, consisting of a thermally insulated epoxy
substrate, a CNFP high-efficiency thermal source, an AlN ceramic
wafer insulated capsulation layer and a MWCNT/cement-based highly
thermo-conductive layer, was proposed in this study. The deicing and
snow-melting performance of this system in both a chilled and an
ambient environment was investigated. The high efficiency, repeatability,
low cost and feasibility of a CNFP-based road self-deicing system for both
deicing and snow-melting applications were validated through this
study.

2. Experiment for material properties

Carbon nano-fiber polymers (CNFPs) made from carbon nano-fibers

(CNFs) exhibit low resistance, high thermal conductivity and high
temperature stability and can be incorporated into a self-deicing
road system as a highly efficient thermal source with an excellent
electro-thermal property. Additionally, the unique thermal conduc-
tion properties of carbon nano-tubes (CNTs) make them a promising
heat transfer candidate (Chung, 1994, 2001; Hone et al., 1999;
Moisala et al., 2006; Peebles, 1994; Saito et al., 1998). In this study,
the materials used included CNFP and a cement-based composite
containing multi-walled carbon nano-tubes. The properties of these
two materials were investigated first.
2.1. Electro-thermal and electrical resistance properties of CNFPs
2.1.1. Materials and methods
CNFP with the dimensions 210× 285 × 0.38 mm, made from carbon
nano-fibers with lengths of 10–200 nm, was purchased from Inorganic
Specialists, Inc. (USA). DAD-87 and DAD-40 electrically conductive
resins obtained from the Shanghai Research Institute of Synthetic Resins
(Shanghai, China) were used as the electrodes and wire connection
nodes, respectively, on the CNFP specimens.
The test included two cases.. Case 1 was a test involving the investi-
gation of the electro-thermal properties of the CNFP and used samples
with the dimensions 35 × 70× 0.38 mm. Case 2 was a test for measuring
the resistivity of the CNFP using specimens with the dimensions
20× 40× 0.38, 20× 60 × 0.38and 20 × 80 × 0.38 mm (considering the
size effect). All of the CNFP samples were sandwiched between two
glass plates (100× 100 mm) and were first dried at 150 °C for 2 hours
in an oven to remove the absorbed water and avoid buckling. DAD-87
was then printed transversely on the dried CNFP samples to form the
electrodes, which are approximately 3 mm wide, for the electro-
thermal property study and resistivity measurement, and the samples
were dried at 200 °C for 2 hours in the oven. DAD-40, which consists
of two components, was mixed at a ratio of 1:1 and was used to connect
the copper wires to the formed electrodes. The CNFP samples with
formed electrodes and copper wires were further dried at 80 °C for
2 hours in the oven. The fabricated CNFP samples are shown in Fig. 1.
To incorporate CNFP into a self-deicing road system as a thermal
source, it is necessary to investigate its temperature-dependent
electro-thermal properties under various temperature conditions. First,
Fig. 1. The CNFP specimens used for (a) investigation of the electro-thermal properties
and (b) measuring the resistivity based on the four-probe method with three different
specimen sizes of ① 20 × 40 × 0.38 mm, ② 20 × 60 × 0.38 mm and ③ 20 × 80 × 0.38 mm.
CNFP specimens were placed in a refrigerator or in a temperature-
controllable oven to simulate a change in ambient temperature, and
then DC power was applied between the two electrodes to heat the
specimens. The temperature of the CNFP sample was monitored using
a Center 309 thermometer with a constant applied voltage and at a
certain ambient temperature. The applied voltages used were 4, 6,
8 and 10 V, and the ambient temperature was varied in the range
of − 30 to 100 °C.
As shown in Fig. 2, the four-probe method was adopted to measure
the longitudinal resistance of the CNFP samples under ambient
temperature conditions (− 30 to 300 °C) in a refrigerator or in a
temperature-controllable oven. A DC current, Iout, was applied at
the two outer contacts, and the two inner contacts were used
for measuring the voltage Uinner. A DC circuit developed by Li
et al.,(2008) was used to measure the resistance of the CNFP sample as
follows:
U inner  Rref U inner
R¼ ¼ ; ð1Þ
U out Iout
where Rref is the standard reference resistor, as shown in Fig. 2, Uout is the
voltage applied to Rout, R and Uinner are the resistance and voltage of the
two inner contacts of the CNFP sample and Iout is the current flowing
through Rref. Iout and Uinner were measured simultaneously to calculate
R in series in the circuit.
Based on Ohm's law, the longitudinal resistivity of each CNFP speci-
men was calculated as follows:
′
RS U  Rref S U inner Δh
ρ ¼ ⋅ ¼ inner ¼ ; ð2Þ
l U out l Iout n
24 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35
Fig. 2. The schematic of the DC circuit for the temperature-dependent resistivity mea-
surement based on the four-probe method with n equal to 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3.
where S and l are the cross-sectional area and the distance between the
inner contacts of the CNFP sample, as shown in Fig. 1 (b), Δh and a are
the thickness and width of the sample, and n = l/a is the ratio of l to
the width a, which was n = 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3 in this study.
It is well known that the material microstructure is the critical
factor dominating the physical performance of the material, including
the mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. To investigate the
effect of the micro-fiber distribution in CNFP on the electro-thermal
properties, a micro- morphology image of the CNFP micro-structure
was obtained with a scanning electron microscope (SEM), as shown
in Fig. 3.
2.1.2. Results and discussion
The increase in the temperature of the CNFP with time and an
applied voltage of 4 V under various ambient temperatures is shown
in Fig. 4. It can be seen from Fig. 4 (a) that the electro-thermal property
of CNFP is dependent on temperature. The temperature dramatically in-
creases with time over the first 10 sec and then approaches a stable
temperature. This stable temperature is dependent on the surrounding
temperature, whereas the increase in the relative temperature is not
Fig. 3. SEM image of CNFP (a) 1 mm, (b) 100 um, (c) 50 um, (d) a node, (e) fiber in node (1 μm,) and (f) fiber connection in a node (3 μm).
strongly dependent and is focused primarily on the temperature inter-
val of 40–50 °C. For example, the stable temperature is 12 °C for an am-
bient temperature of −30 °C; it is approximately 36 °C for an ambient
temperature of −20 and −10 °C and is approximately 45 °C for 0 °C.
When the ambient temperature is higher than 0 °C, the stable temper-
ature becomes approximately 85 °C for a surrounding temperature of
20 and 40 °C, 100–110 °C for a surrounding temperature of 60 and
80 °C, and approximately 140 °C for a surrounding temperature of
100 °C. The temperature dependence of the electro-thermal property
of CNFP can be attributed to the quantized transition of electronic
energy, which determines electron transport activity in CNFs. Further-
more, CNFP can reach the same stable temperature at an ambient
temperature of −30 to 0 °C, which indicates that CNFP is a good candi-
date for the highly efficient thermal source required for deicing in winter
(below 0 °C).
Fig. 4 (b) presents the increase in temperature with time for various
applied voltages (4, 6, 8 and 10 V) at room temperature. The results in
Fig. 4(b) indicate that the temperature of CNFP increases rapidly in
a short period of time, implying that, like the individual CNFs, CNFP
naturally displays excellent electro-thermal properties. Due to the
unique electron transport mechanism of a single CNF and the micro-
topography of CNFP, as shown by the SEM picture in Fig. 3, electron
transport in the material can be highly efficient, which leads to the
high efficiency of the electro-thermal property of CNFP.
The temperature-dependent resistivity of CNFP is shown in Fig. 5.
The resistivity of CNFP exhibits distinctly temperature-dependent
characteristics. The curve of the resistivity of CNFP and the surrounding
temperature can be categorized into three regions. In region 1 (over the
range of −30 to −0 °C), the resistivity remains constant (0.72 Ω ⋅ mm).
In region 2 (over the range of 0–280 °C), the resistivity of CNFP de-
creases linearly with an increase in temperature, exhibiting strongly
temperature-dependent characteristics. It is well known that the re-
sistivity of isolated CNT or CNF is dependent on temperature because of
the increase in activity of phonon and hot electrons with an increase in
temperature (Kane et al., 1998). Similarly, as a macro-mass of individual
CNFs, the resistivity of CNFP decreases linearly as the temperature
increases from 0 to 280 °C because of the activity of hot electrons,
even with a slight deformation in the micro-structure of CNFP based
on temperature change, which corresponds to an improvement in the
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35 25

(a) 250 (b) 350

-30 0 60°C 4V
200 300 6V
Temperature (°C) -20 20 80°C

Temperature (°C)
-10 40 100°C 250 8V
150
10V
200
100
150
50
100
0 50

-50 0
0 100 200 300 0 200 400 600 800 1000
Time (sec) Time (s)

Fig. 4. The temperature versus time curves of CNFP (a) at various ambient temperatures with an applied voltage of 4 V and (b) with applied voltage of 4, 6, 8 and 10 V at room
temperature.

electrical properties of CNFP. In region 3 (above 280 °C), the resistivity composite containing MWCNT was fabricated in this study to take
of CNFP remains constant (0.6 Ω ⋅ mm) and is again independent of the advantage of the excellent thermal and electrical properties of MWCNTs
surrounding temperature. Statistically, the resistivity of CNFP is inde- (~6000 W/(m·K)).
pendent of the specimen size. MWCNTs (b 50 nm, > 95%), which were purchased from the
Based on the temperature dependence of the resistivity as shown in Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry Academia Sinica (Chengdu,
Fig. 5, a piecewise linear model of the resistivity of CFNP was proposed China), were mixed with cement to fabricate material for the thermal
in the following form (units are Ω ⋅ mm): conduction layer. With 0.1% by cement weight sodium dodecyl sul-
fate (SDS) as the dispersing agent, 1%, 3% and 5% by cement weight
 T b 0BC MWCNTs were first dispersed in a water solution of SDS and stirred
0BC ≤ T ≤ 280 C
o
0:72 at a speed of 3,000 rpm for 1 h. An ultrasound dispersing instrument
ρCNFP ¼ ð3Þ
0:72−4:28  10−4 T T ≥ 280 C:
o
was used to disperse the MWCNTs in the water at a power of 400 W
for 2 h and to ensure the uniformity of the mixture. Then 350 g of
cement was poured into the prepared mixture of water and MWCNTs
2.2. Thermo-conductive properties of MWCNT/cement-based composite in a water-cement ratio of 0.4 and stirred mechanically at a speed
of 2,000 rpm for 10 min using an agitator to create a uniform MWCNT/
2.2.1. Materials and methods cement-based composite. Finally, the composite was poured into
As another component of a self-deicing road system, the thermal molds to form specimens with a size of 100×100×25 mm; the speci-
conduction layer embedded in the road should have high thermal mens were demoded after 24 h and then cured in a moisture room for
conductivity to achieve the expected heat transfer efficiency during 7 days.
the deicing process. Although the Portland cement concrete has
been proven to have thermal conductivity (Yang et al., 2012), for further 2.2.1.1. Results and discussion. Based on the Fourier heat conduction
improving the heat transfer efficiency of concrete, a developed concrete equation, the thermal conductivity of the MWCNT/cement-based
with much higher thermal conductivity should be developed in this composite was studied as a thermal steady-state problem with an
paper. Previous studies have indicated that the electrical properties of infinite plate (Karlekar and Desmond, 1977). The temperature was
cement-based composites can be enhanced greatly by filling them monitored using two K-type thermocouples. One was embedded at
with a highly conductive admixture, such as carbon fiber, carbon 7.5 mm above the bottom surface, and the other was at 7.5 mm
black, and steel fibers (Chen and Chung, 1995; Chung, 2001, 2004). below the upper surface of the specimen; the thermocouples were
To efficiently enhance the thermal conductivity, a cement-based 10 mm apart. DC power supplied the heat flux to the CNFP layer.

1.0 1%
0.75 10
A(0,0.72) 3%
Resistivity (Ω∗mm)

0.70 5%•
Temperature gap (°C)

slope=-4.28*10-4 8
Resistivity (Ω∗mm)

0.65 5
Expeimental Study
B(280,0.6) 6 Theory prediction
λ (Wm-1K-1)

0.8 0.60
Average resistivity 4
Piecewise Linear Fit
0.55 4 3
0 100 200 300
Temperature (°C)
1:1 2
2
1:2
1% 3% 5%
0.6 1:3 Wt. of MWCNT (%)
0
-50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Temperature (°C) Time (s)

Fig. 5. The temperature-dependent resistivity of CNFP. Outer figure: resistivity with Fig. 6. The thermal conductivity of the MWCNT/cement-based composite. Outer figure:
three n ratios equal to 1:1, 1:2 and 1:3; Inner figure: the average resistivity and linear temperature gap between two measurement points vs. time; inner figure: theoretical
curve-fit. and experimental thermal conductivity.
26 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35
Fig. 7. The configuration of the CNFP-based self-deicing road system.
The heat flux is defined as the product of inputting a voltage and
causing a corresponding current to flow through the CNFP layer.
Then the mathematical formula for the thermal conductivity coefficient
derived from the Fourier laws is given as
Q dx
λc ¼ − ; ð4Þ
A dT
where λc is the thermal conductivity coefficient of the material, Q is the
heat flux flowing into the bottom of the specimen, which is negative for
inflow and positive for outflow, A is the bottom surface area of the ex-
perimental specimen, and dT is the temperature gradient along the
dx
height of the specimen and is given by the ratio of the stable tempera-
ture gap and the distance (10 mm) between the two measuring points.
The temperature gap converges after approximately 4000 sec, as
shown in Fig. 6. The stable temperature gap between two measurement
points was extracted. The thermal conductivity coefficients of the
three types of samples are all higher than that of normal concrete
(1.58 W/ (m·K)), indicating that the thermal properties of cement-
based composites containing MWCNTs are significantly improved.
Consequently, cement-based composites containing MWCNTs can be
incorporated into a self-deicing road system as the thermal conduction
layer.
It should be noted that as the amount of MWCNTs increases, it
becomes more difficult to disperse the MWCNTs uniformly in the
cement because of the large specific surface area. Generally, heat
conduction in MWCNT/cement-based composites is dominated by
the transportation of phonon and electrons and is extremely sensitive
Fig. 8. The schematic of the integrated controllable self-deicing road system consisting of a CNFP-based road component, a DC power supply, and monitoring and control modules.
to micro-defects and weak interfaces because phonon and electrons
will frequently scatter at the locations of such defects. These negative
effects are caused by the aggregation of MWCNTs in the composite.
Therefore, the enhancement of heat conduction is not only dependent
on the quantity of filled MWCNTs but is also determined by the status
of the dispersion of MWCNTs in the composite. As presented in Fig. 6,
the thermal conductivity cannot be further improved by increasing
the amount of MWCNTs after the proportion of MWCNTs exceeds 3%.
Therefore, in this study, the optimal percentage of MWCNTs for im-
proving the thermal conductivity of cement-based composites filled
with MWCNTs is 3%; the thermal conductivity coefficient corresponding
to this percentage is 2.83 W/(m·K). Cement-based composites filled with
MWCNTs would be qualified for incorporation into the CNFP-based
self-deicing road system.
3. Integration of the CNFP-based self-deicing road system and its
deicing performance in a refrigerator
3.1. Integration of the CNFP-based self-deicing road system
A CNFP-based self-deicing road system should include a heating
source, a thermal transfer layer, an electro-insulated layer and a ther-
mally insulated substrate. The configuration of the CNFP-based self-
deicing road system that was designed in this study is shown in Fig. 7.
CNFP was selected as the heat source. To prevent the heat energy from
flowing down into the soil below the road, epoxy was chosen as the
thermal insulation substrate and placed between the soil and the CNFP
layer. In terms of the mechanical requirements of a road, the cement-
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35 27

Fig. 9. The schematic of the integration process of the deicing system.

based thermal conduction layer were integrated into a self-deicing

road system, as shown in Fig. 7.
The operation of the CNFP-based self-deicing road system is shown
in Fig. 8. An external DC power source was applied at the CNFP layer; in
this study, the power source was solar energy-based and could be auto-
matically controlled. An anemoscope, temperature sensors and K-type
thermocouples were used to measure the wind, ambient temperature
and the temperature in the deicing system. These analogue signals
were collected by sensors and were transformed to a digital signal by
DA/AD boards and then transported to a PC to determine the optimal
heat flux density input.

3.2. Preparation of specimens

As shown in Fig. 9, the integrated deicing system consisted of an epoxy

Fig. 10. The setup for the deicing experiment in a refrigerator.
based composite containing the MWCNTs was designed to be the thermal
conduction layer and was placed over the CNFP thermal source. In
practice, the cement-based composite filled with MWCNTs is typically
covered by ice or snow. An AlN ceramic wafer was placed between
the CNFP thermal source layer and the thermal conduction layer to
guarantee electrical insulation and to simultaneously ensure efficient
heat transfer up to the thermal conduction layer. In summary, an
epoxy thermal insulation substrate, a CNFP thermal source, an AlN
ceramic wafer insulated-encapsulation layer, and a MWCNT/cement-
thermal insulation substrate, a CNFP high-efficiency thermal source, an
AlN ceramic wafer insulated capsulation layer and a MWCNT/cement-
based highly thermally conductive layer.
As the essential components of the whole deicing system, CNFP and
the cement-based composite filled with MWCNTs were fabricated indi-
vidually as described above. The epoxy substrate with a thickness of
2 mm was coated directly onto the bottom of the system at room tem-
perature to prevent the heat from flowing downwards, and then the
prepared CNFP sample (100 × 100 × 0.38 mm) as the thermal source
was attached to the thermally insulated substrate. Next, an AlN ceramic
wafer with a thickness of 0.5 mm was layered onto the CNFP thermal
source as an electro-insulated layer. This wafer displays a remarkable ca-
pacity for electrical insulation and heat conduction (1.5× 1013 Ω·cm

(a) (b) (c)

5 5 5
Temperature(°C)

Temperature(°C)

Temperature(°C)

0 0 0
1800 W/m2 1800 W/m2 1800 W/m2
2 2
1400 W/m 1400 W/m 1400 W/m2
-5 -5 -5
1000 W/m2 1000 W/m2 1000 W/m2
600 W/m2 600 W/m2 600 W/m2
-10 -10 -10
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 0 3000 6000 9000 12000 15000 0 4000 8000 12000 16000
Time (sec) Time (sec) Time (sec)

Fig. 11. The temperature distribution at the interface between the ice layer and the cement-based thermal conduction layer at an ambient temperature of −10 °C and for an ice
thickness of (a) 10 mm, (b) 15 mm, and (c) 20 mm.
28 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35

Table 1
Times of initiation and completion of deicing.

Temperature, °C Thickness, mm Time, sec

600 W/m2 1000 W/m2 1400 W/m2 1800 W/m2

Start Finish Start Finish Start Finish Start Finish

−10 10 3240 8970 2460 6450 1920 5130 1230 3360

15 3810 13020 2670 8970 2190 5820 1530 4830
20 4800 16500 2880 10230 2700 7650 1650 5820
−20 10 4830 14460 2730 7500 2580 6750 1830 5430
15 5160 15750 3330 9930 2760 7590 2550 6750
20 5490 17130 3660 11130 2970 8130 3000 7500
−30 10 6180 16880 4410 8670 2880 7230 2670 6120
15 6630 20100 4920 11250 3540 9120 3180 8190
20 7200 22920 5580 14010 3990 10080 4110 9300

Table 2 were selected as the three critical factors to be investigated in this exper-
Energy consumption for deicing. iment. The heat flux densities used in this experiment were 600, 1000,
Temperature Ice thickness Energy / kJ 1400 and 1800 W/m2. The ice was formed in a refrigerator with sizes of
/°C /mm 100×100×10 mm, 100×100×15 mm and 100 × 100 × 20 mm. The
600 W/m2 1000 W/m2 1400 W/m2 1800 W/m2
ambient temperatures were −30, −20 and −10 °C. The temperature
−10 10 53.82 64.5 71.82 60.48 distribution in the system was monitored by the embedded K-type
15 78.12 89.7 81.48 86.94
thermocouples. The corresponding comprehensive deicing efficiency
20 99 102.3 107.1 104.76
−20 10 86.76 75 94.5 97.74 was evaluated using the proposed indices, which are described later
15 94.5 99.3 106.26 121.5 in this paper. It should be noted that the heat convection coefficient is
20 102.78 111.3 113.82 135 affected by the ambient wind speed. However, it is hard to simulate
−30 10 101.28 86.7 101.22 110.16 the wind speed in a refrigerator, so this factor is ignored in the deicing
15 120.6 112.5 127.68 147.42
20 137.52 140.1 141.12 167.4
test.

3.3. Results and discussion

and 175 W/m·K), which ensures normal performance of the CNFP-
based thermal source during the deicing process. The MWCNT/cement-
based thermo-conductive layer (100×100×25 mm) was then placed
over the AlN ceramic wafer layer. All of the different components were
glued together and firmly connected to guarantee perfect thermal contact
and effective heat transfer.
Fig. 9 presents the deicing system integration procedure. To monitor
the temperature change during the deicing process, four K-type ther-
mocouples (Center 309 thermometer) were used in the system. Two
of them were embedded at the interface between the thermal conduc-
tion layer and the ice layer; at the upper surface of the ice layer, a third
one was embedded at 12.5 mm above the bottom of the thermal con-
duction layer, and the last one was placed on the side wall of the system
to monitor the surrounding temperature. The anemoscope and caliper
were fixed at the experiment site for measuring the wind and the ice
thickness. DC power was then applied to the specimen to supply the
energy for the deicing system. The intelligent control equipment (PC,
data acquisition system) was assembled with the other modules to
complete the system integration and was used to investigate the
deicing performance of the system in this study.
The setup for the deicing experiment in a refrigerator is shown in
Fig. 10. The heat flux density, ice thickness and ambient temperature
From a practical point of view, the most important points for this
system are the deicing time and the energy consumption. Therefore,
the time cost and energy consumption were proposed as the relevant
performance indices and were used to evaluate the deicing efficiency.
First, the temperature distribution was obtained from the embed-
ded thermocouples. The temperature recorded at the interface of the
cement-based thermal conduction layer, and the ice is shown in
Fig. 11 for an ambient temperature of − 10 °C; ice thicknesses of 10,
15 and 20 mm; and four heat flux densities. Fig. 11 shows that the
temperature versus time curves can be divided into three stages,
i.e., an ice-specific heat stage (b 0 °C), an ice-phase change stage
(≈0 °C) and a water-specific heat stage (>0 °C). During the ice spe-
cific heat stage, the temperature rapidly increases up to 0 °C, the
phase change begins, the ice begins to melt, and the temperature is
fixed until the completion of ice melting. The total duration of these
two stages is referred to as the time cost for ice deicing. After the
ice phase change is completed, the temperature at the upper surface
of the ice layer has reached the freezing point, as the third region in
Fig. 11 shows.
The results show that a higher heat flux density corresponds to a
steeper heating gradient and a lower time cost for deicing. However,
for the same heat flux density and ambient temperature, thicker ice

(a) (b) (c)

L-H-I S-H-I L-H-I S-H-I L-H-I S-H-I
S-H-S S-H-S S-H-S
10.6%~10.9% 18.5%~19.2% 24.5%~25.8%

2.3%~4.6% 5.5%~10.5%
84.81%~86.8% 73.6%~76.7% 65%~68.6%

Fig. 12. The proportion of the three effective energy components for various conditions: (a) −10 °C, (b) −20 °C, and (c) −30 °C.
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35 29

(a) (b) (c) (d)

160 160 160 180
-10C° -20C° -10C° -10C° -20C° -10C° -20C°
140 140 140 160
Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)
-30C° -20C° -30C° -30C°
120 120 140
-30C° 120
100 120
100 100
80 100
80 80
60 80
60 60
40 60
10 15 20 10 15 20 10 15 20 10 15 20
Thickness of ice (mm) Thickness of ice (mm) Thickness of ice (mm) Thickness of ice (mm)

-10C° -20C°
11 -10C° -20C° -10C° -20C°
-10C° -20C° 14 10
25
Time(sec*103)

Time(sec*103)

Time(sec*103)

Time(sec*103)
10
-30C° 12 -30C° 9 -30C° -30C°
20 8
8
10 6
15 7
8 6 4
10 6 5
4 2
10 15 20 10 15 20 10 15 20 10 15 20
Thickness of ice (mm) Thickness of ice (mm) Thickness of ice (mm) Thickness of ice (mm)

Fig. 13. The effect of ice thickness on the energy and time required to deice a certain amount of ice under specified conditions (heat flux density and ambient temperature): (a) 600 W/m2,
(b) 1000 W/m2, (c) 1400 W/m2, and (d) 1800 W/m2.

requires more time for deicing. The first stage of the curve represents 3.3.1. The effect of ice thickness
many of the characteristics associated with the heat flux density, The total input energy can be categorized as either the effective energy
such as the start of deicing and the speed of the temperature rise. or the waste energy, which is dissipated to the surroundings. The effective
The time consumption and energy expenditure related to the latent energy is defined as the energy used for the phase change of ice (L-H-I),
heat of the ice (335 kJ/kg) for deicing can be obtained from the second for ice heating (S-H-I) and for system heating (S-H-S):
stage.
For the other ambient temperatures of − 20 and − 30 °C, the Eeffective ¼ Eice þ Esystem ¼ L⋅mice þ cice mice ΔT þ Esystem
times of the initiation and completion of deicing in the temperature ¼ ðL þ cice ΔT Þ⋅A⋅ρice ⋅d þ Esystem ; ð5Þ
curves are listed in Table 1. The energy consumption was calculated
by multiplying the heat flux density qw (W/m 2) by the time required where Eeffective is defined as the effective energy used for deicing, Eice is the
to finish the deicing process (E = qwt); the results are listed in Table 2. energy consumed by ice heating and phase change, Esystem is the energy
The effect of the heat flux density and ice thickness on the deicing time used for system heating, cice is the specific heat of ice (2.1 kJ/ (kg·°C)),
is the same as for an ambient temperature of −10 °C. Additionally, a ΔT is the temperature difference between the ice and the surround-
lower ambient temperature corresponds to a longer deicing time. Of ings up to 0 °C, L is the latent heat of the phase change of ice to
most interest is that, for most of the cases listed in Table 1, the energy water (335 kJ/ kg), ρice is the density of ice (970 kg/m 3), A is the
consumption for deicing is lower with a smaller heat flux density, cross-sectional area of heat flow (100× 100 mm), and d is the thickness
whereas the time for deicing is longer. of the ice.

(a) (b) (c) (d)

16
24 10mm 10mm 10mm
Time (sec*103)

10mm
Time (sec*10 )

10
3

14 10
15mm 15mm 15mm 15mm
Time (sec)

20
Time (sec)

20mm 12 20mm 20mm 8 20mm

16 8
10 6
12
8 6
8 4
6
-30 -20 -10 -30 -20 -10 -30 -20 -10 -30 -20 -10
Ambient temperature (oC) Ambient temperature (oC) Ambient temperature (oC) Ambient temperature (oC)

160 10mm 180 10mm

140 10mm 10mm 140
140 160
Energy (kJ)

15mm 15mm
Energy (kJ)

15mm 15mm
Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)

120 140
20mm 120 20mm 120 20mm 20mm
100 120
100 100 100
80
80 80
60 80
60 60
-30 -20 -10 -30 -20 -10 -30 -20 -10 -30 -20 -10
Ambient temperature (oC) Ambient temperature (oC) Ambient temperature (oC) Ambient temperature (oC)

Fig. 14. The effect of ambient temperature on the energy and time required to deice a certain amount of ice with applied heat flux densities of (a) 600 W/m2, (b) 1000 W/m2, (c) 1400 W/m2,
and (d) 1800 W/m2.
30 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35

(a) (b) (c)

18 18
10mm 10mm 24 10mm
15 15mm 15 15mm 15mm
Time (sec*103)

Time (sec*103)
20mm 20
20mm 20mm

Time (sec)
12 12
16
9 9
12
6
6
8
3
3
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2)

10mm 140 180

120 10mm 10mm
15mm 15mm 160 15mm
20mm 120
Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)
Energy (kJ) 20mm 20mm
100 140
100
120
80
80 100
60 80
60
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2)

Fig. 15. The effect of heat flux density on the energy and time required to deice a certain amount of ice at ambient temperatures of (a) −10 °C, (b) −20 °C, and (c) −30 °C.

Table 3 The data in Tables 1 and 2 are depicted in Fig. 13. At a specific
Comprehensive index of time-energy for the evaluation of deicing efficiency. ambient temperature, the energy and time required to deice a certain
Temperature, Ice thickness, 600 1000 1400 1800 amount of ice both increase approximately linearly with the ice thick-
°C mm W/m2 W/m2 W/m2 W/m2 ness for heat flux densities of 600, 1000, 1400 and 1800 W/m 2 . This
−10 10 1.749 1.617 1.572 1.217 trend occurs because the energy consumed by ice heating and phase
15 1.871 1.689 1.355 1.340 change are linear functions of ice thickness and account for more than
20 1.924 1.575 1.464 1.331 90% of the effective energy, as shown in Fig. 12. Other energy expen-
−20 10 1.888 1.286 1.434 1.376 ditures, such as dissipation and system heating, are independent of
15 1.778 1.448 1.356 1.429
20 1.761 1.474 1.318 1.438
the thickness of the ice at the same ambient temperature. Therefore,
−30 10 1.919 1.301 1.347 1.363 the approximate linear relationship between both deicing time and
15 1.818 1.323 1.320 1.407 energy consumption and ice thickness is acceptable and reasonable.
20 1.822 1.448 1.283 1.406

3.3.2. The effect of ambient temperature

The energy consumption for each of the three components of
the effective energy was calculated using Eq. (5) and is shown in
Fig. 12. The results in Fig. 12 indicate that the majority of the energy
is utilized for the phase change of the ice (> 65%), whereas only a
small portion is used for system heating (b10%). The proportion
is affected by the ambient temperature, i.e., more energy is needed
for ice heating and system heating at lower ambient temperatures.
The results show that the energy consumed by ice heating and phase
change accounts for more than 90% of the effective energy.
For a certain amount of ice, the latent heat expenditure is fixed,
and the specific heat energy consumption is a linear function of the
ambient temperature. Moreover, a lower ambient temperature re-
sults in a higher temperature gradient and increased energy transfer
between the system and the surroundings.
Therefore, the energy and time required to deice a certain amount of
ice for heat flux densities of 600, 1000, 1400 and 1800 W/m 2 reduce
with the increase in ambient temperature, as shown in Fig. 14. Based
on the effective insulation measurements for the surrounding system
and the bottom layer (PVC insulated plates, >0.14 W/m·K, purchased

(a) (b) (c)

2.0 2.0 2.0
10mm 10mm 10mm
Time-Energy index
Time-Energy index

Time-Energy index

1.8 15mm 15mm 15mm

1.8 1.8
20mm 20mm 20mm
1.6
1.6 1.6
1.4
1.4 1.4
1.2
1.2 1.2
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2)

Fig. 16. Index of time-energy in deicing for ambient temperatures of (a) −10 °C, (b) −20 °C, and (c) −30 °C.
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35 31

(a) (b) (c)

10 100 18 112
Time-10mm 78 14 Time-15mm Time-20mm
16 110
Energy-10mm Energy-15mm 95 Energy-20mm

Time(sec*103)

Time(sec*103)
Time(sec*103)

8 72 12 14 108

Energy (kJ)
Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)
90
10 12 106
6 66
85
8 10 104
60 80
4 6 8 102
54 75 6 100
4
2 70 4 98
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 10001200140016001800
2 2 2
Heat flux density (W/m ) Heat flux density (W/m ) Heat flux density (W/m )

Fig. 17. The evaluation of the prior options for time and energy consumption on deicing efficiency at an ambient temperature of −10 °C for ice thicknesses of (a) 10 mm, (b) 15 mm, and
(c) 20 mm.

in Harbin, China), the energy that dissipates to the environment is only
a small portion of the entire energy. Consequently, it is reasonable to
conclude that the consumptions of time and energy for deicing are
approximately linear functions of the ambient temperature.
3.3.3. The effect of heat flux density
For fixed conditions (ice thickness and ambient temperature), the
energy and time requirements for the deicing process are constant. The
heat flux density refers to the energy input to a unit area per unit time
and essentially dictates the heating rate and temperature gradient, as
shown in Fig. 11. A higher heat flux density results in a faster heating
rate and a smaller time expenditure for deicing.
As shown in Fig. 15, the deicing time decreases with the increase in
heat flux density, with a very fast decay at the beginning followed by a
relatively slower decay. The results indicate that increasing the heat flux
density is effective for deicing in the range of 600–1000 W/m 2 but that
the effectiveness increases little when the heat flux density exceeds
1000 W/m2. The energy is the product of the heat flux density and
the time used for deicing; the higher the heat flux density, the less the
expenditure of time, so a minimum energy consumption value (optimal
value) should exist, as shown in Fig. 15. For example, 1000 W/m2 is
the optimal heat flux density for ice with a thickness of 10 mm at an
ambient temperature of −20 °C.
3.4. The evaluation of deicing efficiency based on the priority of time and
energy options
Considering the time and energy consumption efficiency associated
with deicing, the optimal heat flux density option may not coincide
with the other parameters being specified, which require that the
least energy and the shortest time expenditure be used to deice a cer-
tain amount of ice. However, it is impossible to optimize both time
and energy because the shortest time cost does not usually accompany
the most economic energy requirement. Therefore, three evaluation in-
dices could be used to determine the expected options for the heat flux
density for a certain amount of ice. The first choice is defined as a compre-
hensive index, β, which accounts for the optimal time and energy effi-
ciency as follows (a balance between time and energy consumption):
 
β ¼ ðT=T max Þ þ Ec =Ec;max ; ð6Þ
where T and Ec are the time and energy used for deicing, Tmax and Ec,max
are the longest time and maximum energy required for deicing a certain
amount of ice with varying heat flux density under the same ambient
conditions. To minimize the confusion regarding the equation working
conditions, the heat flux cannot be zero and should be in a reasonable
range to ensure that the deicing process is finished in a finite time period.
The second index considers only the energy concerned, i.e., the require-
ment of minimum power consumption. The last index considers only
the shortest time expenditure for an emergency case.
As shown in Table 3 and Fig. 16, at an ambient temperature of −10 °C
the optimal heat flux densities were 1800, 1400/1800 and 1800 W/m2 for
ice with thicknesses of 10, 15 and 20 mm, where the minimum
time-energy indices are 1.217, 1.34 and 1.331, respectively. These optimal
values were reasonable because for the heat flux density of 1800 W/m2
the time efficiency was much higher than the increase in energy con-
sumption. At an ambient temperature of −20 °C, the most appropriate
heat flux densities were 1000, 1000 and 1400 W/m 2 for ice with thick-
nesses of 10, 15 and 20 mm, where the minimum time-energy indices
of 1.286, 1.356 and 1.318, respectively, represent the optimal balance
between the time efficiency and the energy consumption. Furthermore,
1000 and 1400 W/m 2 could be the best choices for ice thicknesses of 10
and 20 mm. There were two acceptable heat flux densities, 1000 and
1400 W/m2, for deicing 15-mm-thick ice because of their similar indices

(a) (b) (c)18 150

16 110 18
Time-10mm Time-15mm Time-20mm
105 16 130 16
14 Energy-10mm Energy-15mm Energy-20mm 140
Time(sec*103)

Time(sec*103)

100 14
Energy (kJ)
Energy (kJ)
Energy (kJ)

12 120 14
95 130
12
10 90 12
10 110 120
8 85 10
80 8
100 110
6 6 8
75
4 70 4 90 6 100
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 10001200140016001800
Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2) Heat flux density (W/m2)

Fig. 18. The evaluation of the prior options for time and energy consumption on deicing efficiency at an ambient temperature of −20 °C for ice thicknesses of (a) 10 mm, (b) 15 mm, and
(c) 20 mm.
32 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35

(a) (b) (c)

18 18
Time-10mm 120 Time-10mm 120 21 Time-15mm 160
15 Energy-10mm 15 Energy-10mm Energy-15mm 150

Time(sec*103)
Time(sec*103

Time(sec*103
18

Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)

Energy (kJ)
110 110
12 12 140
15
100 100 130
9 9 12
120
90 90 9
6 6 110
80 80 6 100
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800
2 2 2
Heat flux density (W/m ) Heat flux density (W/m ) Heat flux density (W/m )

Fig. 19. The evaluation of the prior options for time and energy consumption on deicing efficiency at an ambient temperature of −30 °C with ice thicknesses of (a) 10 mm, (b) 15 mm,
and (c) 20 mm.

of 1.323 and 1.320, but when the efficiency of time is also considered, 1400 W/m 2, but the time was significantly reduced. If there was no
1400 W/m2 should be the first choice. limitation for time cost, the 600, 1000 and 1400 W/m2 heat flux densities
When a single index is considered, i.e., the least energy consumption could be used, but the optimal density was 1400 W/m2 because of the
or the shortest time expenditure at an ambient temperature of −10 °C, combined efficiency of time and energy, with a minimum time-energy
as shown in Fig. 17 and Tables 1 and 2, a heat flux density of 600 W/m 2 index of 1.283 as presented in Table 3. Generally, 1400 W/m 2 was an
is the optimal choice for the 10-mm-thick ice by virtue of having the appropriate option that could be widely applied in severely harsh
lowest energy consumption (53.82 kJ). However, in an emergency situ- weather for deicing.
ation, 1800 W/m2 could be selected because it requires the least time.
For ice of thicknesses of either 15 mm or 20 mm, a heat flux density
of 600 W/m 2 is a reasonable choice if time is not a limitation because 3.5. The evaluation of economic expense
it has the lowest energy requirement. In an emergency situation,
1800 W/m2 must be applied to meet the minimum time requirement, The price for electric power in China is currently USD$ 0.083 per
although more energy is consumed. kW·h. The cost of deicing per unit area using the proposed technolo-
Fig. 18 presents the time and energy consumption for deicing a cer- gy was calculated and is listed in Table 4. For the low temperature
tain amount of ice at an ambient temperature of −20 °C. The trends in case (− 10 to 0 °C), 0.11–0.22 $/m 2 is sufficient for deicing ice in
the curves shown in Fig. 18 imply the existence of the critical phenom- the thickness range of 10–20 mm. For lower temperature conditions
enon, which is that the second optimal solution is more practical than (−20 to −10 °C), the cost is 0.15–0.28 USD$/m2, which is much lower
the absolute optimal solution. For ice with thicknesses of 10 mm, than the other current techniques listed in Table 5 (George and Charles,
15 mm and 20 mm, although the time was slightly longer when the 2011; Harnick et al., 1980; Lee et al., 2000; Litvan, 1976; Wang et al.,
heat flux density was 1000, 1400 and 1400 W/m2 than when it was 2006). The cost was calculated based on the present economic costs and
1800 W/m2, the energy consumption was much smaller at these heat the operating efficiency of various deicing methods. The estimated ex-
flux densities than at 1800 W/m2. These values are consistent with pense of each mechanical method includes the labor costs (>11.00 /h in
the time-energy index shown in Fig. 16. Therefore, the optimal solution China, http://finace.sina.com.cn/g/20100809/07058444689.shtml) and
was that the regular heat flux density (1000–1400 W/m 2) would be the work efficiency. For the chemical methods, the cost is dependent on
offered for ambient temperatures of −20 to −10 °C with the anticipated the market price (NaCl, 0.31USD$/kg; CMA, 3.1USD$/kg) and the amount
associated good energy and time efficiency. consumed (NaCl, 0.3–0.6 kg/m2; CMA, 0.56–1.13 kg/m2).
Similar to the results shown in Fig. 18, the second optimal point was As shown in Table 5, for similar situations the cost of using conductive
more practical for the ambient temperature of −30 °C, as shown in concrete to deice the same amount of ice (Yehia et al., 2000) is almost 4
Fig. 19. The optimal heat flux density for an ice thickness of 10 mm times the cost of the approach proposed in this paper. Common salt
was 1000 W/m2 (smallest energy requirement with a relatively short (sodium chloride) is not recommended due to the severe environ-
time requirement); the optimal heat flux densities for ice thicknesses mental pollution and corrosion of reinforced concrete associated
of 15 mm and 20 mm were 1000 and 1400 W/m 2. with its use, even though it is only half the cost of the approach pro-
Moreover, for 20-mm-thick ice at − 30 °C, the energy requirement posed in this study (George and Charles, 2011; Harnick et al., 1980;
increased slightly with the increase of heat flux density from 600 to Lee et al., 2000; Litvan, 1976; Wang et al., 2006). Moreover, the applica-
tion of some non-polluting chemical salts, e.g., calcium chloride and
acetic acid calcium magnesium, is also limited because of their much
Table 4
Economic expenditure per unit area for deicing a certain thickness of ice.
higher cost (0.26–0.7 USD$/m2, 1.75–3.51 USD$/m2). The proposed
deicing technique is an excellent option, especially for the extremely
Ambient Ice thickness, Economic expenditure USD$/m2
temperature, °C /mm
600 1000 1400 1800
W/m2 W/m2 W/m2 W/m2
Table 5
10 0.11 0.14 0.15 0.12 Cost of deicing using different approaches at an ambient temperature of −20 °C.
−10 15 0.15 0.18 0.17 0.18
20 0.21 0.22 0.22 0.22 Ice thickness Economic expenditure USD $/m2
10 0.18 0.15 0.20 0.20 /mm
NaCl CaCl CMA Conductive Mechanical CNFP
−20 15 0.20 0.20 0.22 0.25
concrete
20 0.22 0.23 0.23 0.28
10 0.22 0.18 0.22 0.23 10 0.09 0.26–0.35 1.75 >0.56 >0.1 0.15–0.2
−30 15 0.25 0.23 0.26 0.31 15 0.13 0.40–0.53 2.65 >0.56 >0.1 0.2–0.25
20 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.35 20 0.18 0.53–0.70 3.51 >0.73 >0.1 0.22–0.28
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35
Fig. 20. The test setup for melting snow in a natural environment.
low temperature case (−30 °C), because at a maximum cost of no more
than 0.29 USD$/m 2 the deicing cost is much lower. The solar energy
used as the power source in this study is an abundant source of energy,
increasing the feasibility of this proposed deicing system for practical
applications.
Currently, the price of CNFP is relatively expensive as a new material,
it must decrease with the mature of manufacture process in the future,
then the installation cost will also accordingly significantly drop.
4. Investigation of the snow-melting capabilities of the CNFP-based
self-deicing road system in a natural environment
The performance of the CNFP-based self-deicing road system for
melting snow in a natural environment was also investigated. The
applied heat flux densities were 600, 800 and 1000 W/m 2 with
snow thicknesses of 20, 30, 40 and 50 mm. The surrounding tempera-
ture and wind speed were monitored by the Center 309 thermometer
and anemoscope. The snow-melting process was affected by multiple
factors, such as wind speed, ambient temperature, heat flux density
and snow thickness. The test setup for the system is shown in Fig. 20
and the temperature distribution measured in the test is shown in
Fig. 21.
As shown in Fig. 21, at the beginning the temperature increased
rapidly from the initial state to the freezing point (0 °C). The snow
then absorbed enough energy to achieve its latent heat, then began to
melt and formed a moving interface between the melted water and
the rest of the snow; the temperature at the melting interface was stable
at 0 °C until the snow vanished. As shown in Fig. 21 (a), for the same
(a)
10
Temeprature (oC)
Temperature(oC)
0
-10
20mm
30mm
40mm
-20
50mm
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Time(sec)
Fig. 21. The change in temperature with time at the interface between the thermal conductive layer and the snow layer for four different snow thicknesses and heat flux densities of
(a) 1000 W/m2, (b) 800 W/m2 and (c) 600 W/m2.
33
initial temperature of −12 °C, the gray line for a snow thickness of
30 mm has a steeper gradient, and snow melting began earlier. This re-
sult is the same as that of the black line and the black dashed line for the
40- and 50-mm-thick snow at an initial temperature of − 22 °C. Al-
though melting the thicker snow requires more energy, because of the
lower thermal conductivity of snow (approximately 0.1 W/(m*K) for
new snow), the thicker snow layer actually played a more active role
in heat preservation as a porous media and prevented heat loss into
the surrounding air. A similar phenomenon also presented in other
cases, as shown in Fig. 21, except for the cases with 40- and 50-
mm-thick snow at an initial temperature of − 23 °C, as shown in
Fig. 21 (b). The results for these cases are different because of the rel-
atively lower heat flux density input and the extremely low sur-
rounding temperature exceeding the heat preservation capability
of the specimen. Therefore, the time cost for melting the snow is de-
termined by a combination of the energy requirement and the heat
preservation effect.
As shown in Fig. 22, with a heat flux density of 600 W/m 2, it took
approximately 6,000, 6,500, 7,500 and 6,800 sec to melt snow with
thicknesses of 20, 30, 40 and 50 mm at a surrounding temperature
of − 9.1, − 9.2, − 9.7 and − 10 °C, respectively; the corresponding en-
ergy consumption for these cases is 1.0, 1.12, 1.28 and 1.10 kWh/m 2.
In contrast with the other results, a heat flux density of 600 W/m 2 is
most efficient and profitable for 30-mm-thick snow at a normal low
temperature (−10 °C), with a minimum consumption of time and
energy that results from the joint effect of heat preservation and
dissipation under similar surrounding conditions.
Similarly, because of the previously mentioned heat preservation
effect, 800 W/m 2 is more efficient and preferable for thicker snow
(30 mm) at extreme ambient temperature condition (−17 °C). Overall,
it makes sense that the time and energy cost increases as the snow
thickness increases for similar ambient conditions.
In contrast to the lower heat flux densities, 1000 W/m 2 is more
efficient and preferable for thicker snow (40 mm) at the extreme
ambient temperature condition (− 23 °C) because of the relatively
longer melting time but higher efficiency, which is also a result of the
heat preservation effect associated with thicker snow.
The cost of the self-deicing technique (0.05–0.11 $/m 2) proposed in
this study was approximately half that of the snow-melting method de-
veloped by Hou et al. (2002) based on conductive concrete filled with
CF (1.85%). The technique proposed in this study was also verified as
being only 1/10–1/6 of the cost calculated by Yehia et al. (2000) in the
bridge snow-melting study based on conductive concrete filled with
steel fiber.
In summary, the investigations of deicing and snow melting verified
that the self-deicing/snow-melting technique proposed in this study
offers the advantages of less time, lower energy consumption, feasible
(b) (c)
10 10
5
Temperature(oC)
0 5
-5
0
-10
20mm 20mm
-15 30mm -5 30mm
40mm 40mm
-20
50mm 50mm
-25 -10
0 1500 3000 4500 6000 7500 0 1500 3000 4500 6000 7500
Time (sec) Time(sec)
34 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35
(a) (b)
9000 0 2
2 600 W/m
600 W/m
8000 2 800 W/m
Temperature (oC)
800 W/m -6
2 1000 W/m
7000 1000 W/m
Time (sec)
6000 -12
5000 -18
4000
-24
3000
2000 -30
20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Snow thickness (mm)
Fig. 22. Effect of multiple factors on the snow-melting process: (a) time cost, (b) the corresponding surrounding temperature and (c) energy expenditure per unit area (kWh/m2).
operation, intelligent control and environmental protection. This system
can be widely used in roads, pavement, highways and bridges. In addition,
the integration of a self-energy harvesting system with this self-deicing/
snow-melting system will be competitive in the future.
5. Conclusion
A self-deicing road system based on a CNFP electro-thermal source
was proposed. The feasibility and efficiency of the self-deicing road
system were validated through experiments. This study resulted in
the following conclusions:
CNFP provides good electro-thermal properties at ambient temper-
atures below 0 °C, with a rapid heating reaction and stable resistivity
(0.72 Ω·mm). These properties indicate that CNFP can be employed
as a highly efficient thermal source to generate a stable heat flux density
for a self-deicing road system. For example, a stable heat flux density
of 1000 W/m 2 can be generated by CNFP with an applied current of
2.3 A.
A cement-based composite filled with 3% by weight MWCNTs shows
much better thermal conductivity (2.83 W/m·K) than cement-based
composites filled with other conductive materials such as carbon fibers
(1.3–2.0 W/m·K, 1% MWCNT 2.5 W/m·K) and than common cement-
based composites (1.58 W/m·K). This composite can be incorporated
into the self-deicing road system as a thermal conduction layer.
The high deicing efficiency and low energy consumption of the
proposed self-deicing road system with electro-thermal materials has
been validated. The deicing performance was affected by the thickness
of the ice layer, the surrounding temperature, the heat flux density
and the wind speed. The experimental results indicate that the deicing
time and energy consumption increase with an increase in ice thickness
but decrease with an increase in the surrounding temperature. As
another essential factor affecting the deicing performance, a larger
heat flux density results in a decreased time cost as a hyperbolic
function but has an uncertain influence on energy consumption.
Therefore, the optimal option for the heat flux density was determined
by an evaluation of the time-energy index, β, as the most rational power
affordance. For example, with an ambient temperature of −10 °C, the
optimal heat flux density is 1800, 1400/1800 and 1800 W/m2 for ice
with thicknesses of 10, 15 and 20 mm, which corresponds to minimum
indices of 1.217, 1.34 and 1.331, respectively.
The high performance of the CNFP-based self-deicing road sys-
tem for snow melting was also validated through an experimental
study.
In terms of the evaluation criteria of efficiency, time, energy supply,
cost and environmental impacts, the deicing and snow melting investi-
gation verified that the proposed self-deicing road system is a compet-
itive and promising deicing/snow-melting technique. It may have the
(c)
1.3 2
Energy (Kwh/m2)
2
1.2
1.1
600 W/m
2
1.0
800 W/m
2
2 0.9
1000 W/m
20 25 30 35 40 45 50 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Snow thickness (mm) Snow thickness (mm)
potential to be widely used in bridges, highways, pavement and airport
infrastructures.
Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by project grant no
2011BAK02B02, NSFC grant no 50808059 and grant no HIT. NSRIF.
2010019. The authors greatly appreciate Prof. Xian G. for his kind help
in our research.
References
Chang, C., Michelle, H., Song, G., Yi-Lungand, M., Li, H., 2009. A feasibility study of self-
heating concrete utilizing carbon nanofiber heating elements. Smart Materials and
Structures 18, 127001–127005.
Chen, P., Chung, D.D.L., 1995. Improving the electrical conductivity of composites com-
prised of short conducting fibers in a non-conducting matrix: the addition of a
non-conducting particulate filler. Journal of Electronic Materials 24, 47–51.
Chung, D.D.L., 1994. Carbon fiber composites. Butter-worth–Heinemann, Boston, US.
Chung, D.D.L., 2001. Comparison of submicron-diameter carbon filaments and conven-
tional carbon fibers as fillers in composites materials. Carbon 39, 1119–1125.
Chung, D.D.D., 2004. Electrically conductive cement-based composites. Advanced in
Cement Research 16, 176-176.
Feng, J.H., Li, H., 2009. Development of Self-Heating Concrete using Carbon Nano-fiber
Paper. In: Tomizuka, M. (Ed.), Proc. of SPIE. (San Diego California, US 9-12 March
2009) (the International Society for Optical Engineering, Sensors and smart
structures technologies for civil, mechanical, and aerospace systems vol. 7292).
San Diego, CA.
Ferrara, A.A., Haslett, R., 1975. Prevention of Preferential Bridge Icing Using Heat Pipes.
Washington, D.C. Federal Highway Administration. FHWA-RA-75-111.
George, G.K., Charles, C.R., 2011. An investigation of infrared deicing through experi-
mentation. Cold Regions Science and Technology 65, 79–87.
Harnick, A.B., Meier, V., Rosli, A., 1980. Combined influence of freezing and deicing salt
on concrete: physical aspects durability of building materials and components.
ASTMSTP 691, 474–484.
Hone, J., Whitney, M., Piskoti, C., Zettl, A., 1999. Thermal conductivity of single-walled
carbon nanotubes. Physical Review B 59, 2514–2516.
Hou, Z.F., Li, Z.Q., Tang, Z.Q., 2002. Research on making and application of carbon fiber
electrically concrete for deicing and snow-melting. Journal of Wuhan Institute of
Technology (Natural Journal Edition) 24, 32–34.
Kane, C.L., Mele, E.J., Lee, R.S., Fischer, J.E., Petit, P., Dai, H., Thess, A., Smalley, R.E.,
Verschueren, A.R.M., Tans, S.J., Dekker, C., 1998. Temperature-dependent resistivity
of single-wall carbon nanotubes. EPL 41, 683–688.
Karlekar, B.V., Desmond, R.M., 1977. Engineering Heat Transfer. West Pub. Co. (St. Paul).
Lee, R.C., 1984. Bridge heating using ground source heat pipes. Transportation Research
962, 51–57.
Lee, H., Cody, R.D., Cody, A.M., Spry, P.G., 2000. Effects of Various Deicing Chemicals on
Pavement Concrete Deterioration. Proc. Mid-Continent Transportation Symp. Iowa,
Ames, pp. 151–155.
Li, H., Xiao, H., Ou, J., 2008. Electrical property of cement-based composites filled with
carbon black under long-term wet and loading condition. Composites Science and
Technology 68, 2114–2119.
Litvan, G.G., 1976. Frost action in cement in the presence of deicers. Cement and
Concrete Research 6, 351–356.
Long, D.C., Baldwin, J.S., 1981. Snow and Ice Removal from Pavement Using Stored
Earth Energy. Federal Highway Administration. FHWA-TS-80-227 78.
Moisala, A., Li, Q., Kinloch, I.A., Windle, A.H., 2006. Thermal electrical conductivity of
single and multi-walled carbon nanotube-epoxy composites. Composites Science
and Technology 66, 1285–1288.
 H. Li et al. / Cold Regions Science and Technology 86 (2013) 22–35
Peebles, L.H., 1994. Carbon Fibers: Formation, Structure, and Properties. CRC Press,
Boca Raton, FL, US.
Saito, R., Dresselhaus, G., Dresselhaus, M.S., 1998. Physical Properties of Carbon
Nanotubes. Imperial College Press, London, UK.
Tanaka, O., 1981. Snow melting using heat pipes. Advances in Heat Pile Technology 25,
2272–2284.
Wang, K., Nelsen, D.E., Nixon, W.A., 2006. Damaging effects of deicing chemicals on
concrete materials. Cement and Concrete Composites 28, 173–188.
Yang, T., Yang, Z., Singla, M., Song, G., Li, Q., 2012. Experimental study on carbon fiber
tape–based deicing technology. Journal of Cold Regions Engineering 26, 55–70.
35
Yehia, S., Tuan, C.Y., Ferdon, D., Bing, C., 2000. Conductive concrete overlay for bridge
deck deicing: mixture proportioning, optimization and properties. ACI Materials
Journal 97, 172–181.
Zhao, H., Wang, S., Wu, Z., Che, G., 2010. Concrete slab installed with carbon fiber
heating wire for bridge deck deicing. Journal of Transportation Engineering 136,
500–509.
Zhao, H., Wu, Z., Wang, S., Zheng, J., Che, G., 2011. Concrete pavement deicing with
carbon fiber heating wires. Cold Regions Science and Technology 65, 413–420.