Description: air-source heat pumps are needed to decarbonise heat in UK buildings, but in cool damp climates such as the UK, heat pumps experience a build up of ice on the evaporator, which absorbs heat from the environment. This build up impedes further heat transfer and needs temporary refrigeration cycle-reversal or direct electric heating to melt. This reduces the effectiveness of the heat pump. In this project you will investigate the effectiveness of using vibrations to clear water droplets from the surface of heat exchangers before they can freeze and form ice. Many animals use vibrations to shed excess water from feathers/fur, and this could potentially be a much more energy efficient way of preventing/clearing frost build up than evaporating water or melting ice.