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Schematic representation of desiccant assisted dehumidification
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A significant fraction of the total energy consumed by air conditioners in warm and humid climates (e.g. Singapore) is utilized for moisture removal by condensation on evaporator tubes. This project aims to reduce this energy consumption by using desiccant coated fin-tube heat exchanger that removes moisture from the air in a nearly isothermal process. This reduces the latent heat load on the evaporator and reduces the temperature of heat required to regenerate the desiccant, thereby enabling the utilization of condenser heat. Estimated energy savings is > 20%. |
Ultra-low-grade heat driven desiccant-coated heat exchanger
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Saving energy becomes urgent to air-conditioning systems as energy consumption will increase with the growing demand for indoor comfort as well as the changing climate. Conventional air conditioning systems consume substantial energy to handle the latent heat load and the sensible heat load simultaneously, while a separated dehumidification system could reduce the energy consumption and improve occupants’ thermal comfort. This study proposes a novel dehumidifier– an internally cooled/heated desiccant-coated heat and mass exchanger (DCHX), which could dehumidify the air at 30°C and regenerate the desiccant at 38 °C. The design of our DCHX is helped with CFD simulations with a numerical model. Also, an experimental setup is built to study the performance of the proposed system. It is proven that our new dehumidification system could reduce the total energy consumption of an air conditioning system, and its structure and configuration are favorable to decrease the pressure loss through the system |
