EXPERIMENTAL STUDY FOR HUMIDIFICATION PERFORMANCE OF AIR-TO-WATER TYPE HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANE HUMIDIFIER

Abstract

In this study, a water-to-air type hollow-fiber membrane humidifier was built, and its humidification characteristics were experimentally investigated under various test conditions. A humidification module made of a porous hollow-fiber membrane in which hydrophilic and polymeric raw materials are mixed was used. Using the selected material, shell-and-tube structured hollow-fiber membrane module was fabricated and tested under various operating conditions. The experimental data showed that the proposed membrane modules exhibited 74.5%-91.7% humidification effectiveness and moisture transfer of 2.5-15.8 g/kg under various operating conditions; furthermore, the modules could provide humidifier performance with few temperature changes. The results of the parametric analysis indicated that the inlet water temperature was a critical factor affecting the humidification heating performance of the proposed system but did not show a clear effect of the water flow rate.