Experimental and model based performance investigation of a solid desiccant wheel dehumidifier in subtropical climate

摘要

This paper presents real time performance analysis of a silica gel based desiccant wheel dehumidifier. Thermodynamic model is also validated through comparison under a wide range of operating conditions for subtropical climate conditions. Initially, a mathematical model is developed by using various set of equations for desiccant wheel dehumidifier in engineering equation solver. After-wards, a parametric analysis of the system is performed including various design and climate parameters such as: inlet air humidity ratio, inlet air temperature, regeneration inlet humidity ratio, regeneration temperature, and rotation speed of the wheel. Then, an experimental set-up of the system is established in Taxila Pakistan for the real-time performance assessment. The results revealed that the optimal rotation speed of desiccant wheel ranged from 15-17 rph. The maximum model based and experimental effectiveness is 0.45 and 0.43, respectively at re-generation temperature of 80°C. The maximum and minimum root mean square error values for effectiveness are 3.2% and 2.1%, respectively. Thus, the comparison between experimental and model results showed a good agreement.