Experimental Study of an Advanced Silica Gel Dehumidifier

摘要

This report contains results of work done to experimentally characterize the performance of an advanced, rotary, desiccant dehumidifier and to develop and validate analytical methods for evaluating its performance in air-conditioning systems. A facility, the Cyclic Test Facility, and a test and analysis procedure were developed to evaluate the performance of the dehumidifier. A series of tests was undertaken to understand the simultaneous heat- and mass-transfer processes. An advanced dehumidifier test article was tested under cyclic operation to fully characterize its performance. Brief accounts of this facility, with its hardware and instrumentation, and detailed accounts of the test data and data reduction and analysis methods are presented. The data provide an engineering data base for evaluating rotary dehumidifiers for cooling applications. The dehumidifier's performance, as measured by the effectiveness, agreed with theory to within plus or minus 10%. 16 refs., 16 figs., 1 tab. (ERA citation 13:014501)