Experimental verification of indirect evaporative cooling assisted internally cooled liquid desiccant dehumidifier

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to estimate the system performance of an evaporative cooling assisted internally cooled liquid desiccant dehumidifier (ICLD). The feasibility of an evaporative cooling assisted ICLD is analyzed using an environmental climate chamber test for a variation in the working airflow on the evaporative cooling channel. In the process air channel of the ICLD, the air stream was maintained at a constant mass flow rate when the working air steam was changed to modulate the increase in airflow ratio from 0.25 to 1.0. The ICLD performance was measured under a constant temperature and humidity to simulate hot and humid outdoor air conditions. To evaluate its performance, the cooling capacity, wet-bulb effectiveness, coefficient of performance, and volumetric mass transfer coefficient of the ICLD were evaluated based on the measured data. As the results indicate, the 0.5 ratio of airflow between the working and process air stream showed a higher performance in terms of dehumidification and sensible cooling than a different airflow ratio.