Experimental Study of a Thermoelectric Air Duct Dehumidification System for Tropical Climate

Abstract

Water scarcity is the biggest survival challenge for the current generation, and atmospheric water condensation can be a solution. This paper presents the results of a numerical and experimental evaluation of a novel thermoelectric air duct dehumidifier system (TE-ADD) installed on a test chamber. The subject system, made of twenty-four thermoelectric modules along with heat sinks and fans, was used to produce freshwater by extracting moisture from ambient air. The performance of the system was evaluated as a function of the input power and the airflow rate. The results show that the water condensate production increases and the optimal value is achieved for an input power to the TE-ADD system of 6 A at 5 V. A further increase of the input power adversely affects the performance of the system. The condensate production also depends on the flow rate of the air. The optimal flow rate of air at an input current of 5 A and 6 A is 0.011 kg/s. Thus, this system solves two critical environmental issues, i.e., decrease of the thermal load and freshwater production, simultaneously.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR), King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under grant No. [DF-263-611-1441]. The authors, therefore, gratefully acknowledge DSR technical and financial support.

Notes on contributors

Kashif Irshad

Kashif Irshad is working as a Research Engineer III/Assistant Professor at Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He received B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, India and Ph.D. in Sustainable Buildings Development from Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS, Malaysia. His research interests include zero energy buildings, sustainable air conditioning system, solar radiation modeling, phase change heat transfer, thermoelectric and nano materials.

Abdulmohsen Almalawi

Abdulmohsen Almalawi received the B.Sc. degree in computer science from King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2003. He received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, in 2009 and 2014, respectively. He is an assistant professor in the School of Computer Science and IT, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His research interests are intrusion detection and cybersecurity of industrial SCADA systems with emphasis on data mining, machine learning, and fast algorithms.

Khairul Habib

Khairul Habib is serving as a senior lecturer in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Universiti Teknology Petronas, and Malaysia. He obtained his bachelor’s degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1999. He completed his master’s degree from National University of Singapore and his doctoral degree from Kyushu University, Japan in 2009. His research mainly focuses on solar/thermally powered dehumidification and cooling systems, refrigeration and air conditioning, thermally driven sorption systems, zero energy buildings, solar drying technology and thermal effect of machining process on the material. He has published more than fifty papers in reputed peer reviewed journals.

Md. Hasan Zahir

Md. Hasan Zahir is a Research Scientist-II (Associate Professor) in Renewable Energy Center at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. He earned his Ph.D. in 1995, Department of Science of Material Reactions, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Kobe University, Japan. He has published over 75-refereed Journal publications and proceeding and has made over 60 technical presentations, including 14 invited talk and 25 patents.

Amjad Ali

Amjad Ali received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in Electronics from the University of Sindh Pakistan in 2002 and 2003, respectively. He received another master’s degree in Energy Management from COMSATS University Islamabad in 2010 and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Zhejiang University Hangzhou, China in 2016. Currently, he is working as a research engineer in the Center of Research Excellence in Renewable Energy, Research Institute, King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. His main research interest includes renewable energy, energy policy and standards, power optimization and power electronics design.

Saiful Islam

Saiful Islam is a Research Scholar at Department of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johar Bahru, Malaysia. He did his B.Tech. degree from Zakir Hussain College of Engineering, A.M.U, and Aligarh. He has completed his M.Tech. degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He is the life member of Indian Society of Technical Education, International Association of Engineers and International Association of Protective Structures. He has published several papers in international journals. His research interests include slope stability, natural hazards, water resource management, and evapotranspiration models.

Bidyut Baran Saha

Bidyut Baran Saha obtained his B.Sc. (Hons.) and M.Sc. degrees from Dhaka University of Bangladesh in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in 1997 from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Japan and joined the same institution as an Assistant Professor. Since January 2016, he has been working as a professor and principal investigator at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (WPI-I2CNER) in the Division of Thermal Science and Engineering. His research interests include thermally powered adsorption systems, heat and mass transfer analysis, and energy efficiency assessment. He has published more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals and international conference proceedings. He has edited seven books and holds seventeen patents.