Directional Wetting of Packings with Formation of Icicles on Discrete Supply of Water in the Form of Jets Under Conditions Close to a Minimum Density of Wetting and Desalination of Water by Freezing

The article presents the results of studies of directional wetting of linear packings with formation of icicles on discrete supply of water in jets under conditions close to the minimum wetting density. It is proposed to use a Π-shaped linear distribution device. Water is cooled in a moving jet over the distribution device and drops falling on packings from the vertical surfaces of the distribution device, which is poorly wetted with water so that the drops fall mainly at the center of the spot where the jet is incident. To increase the uniformity and quality of wetting, it is proposed to use the ribs of the distribution device with thin flexible elements. The best results are obtained when using cotton thread No. 40 located in two parallel turns in one rib with a pitch of 10 mm. In this case, the number of droplet formation centers at a water flow rate of 0.5 mL/s reached 70, while with 6 parallel turns in one rib the number of droplet formation centers was 35, and 7 when the surface had no ribs. The wetting device was tested in the course of wetting the tubes with production of icicles, which confirms the improvement of wetting packings with water. Desalination of water by freezing in icicles has also been studied, with the highest salinity occurring at the bottom of the icicles. It was revealed that it is impossible to obtain drinking water with one freezing cycle.