Experimental investigation of a desiccant dehumidifier based on evacuated tube solar collector with a PCM storage unit

ABSTRACT

A rotary desiccant dehumidifier based on an evacuated tube solar air collector with a phase change material (PCM) storage unit has been experimentally investigated. The PCM (acetamide) simultaneously stores and transfers the heat to the air during day hours. The stored heat of the PCM is utilized to produce hot air during night hours. The performance of the system is analyzed for different air flow rates at different rotational speeds (rph) of desiccant wheel. The dehumidification effectiveness (ϵ_A), regeneration effectiveness (ϵ_R), and dehumidification coefficient of performance are 8.17, 10.35, and 0.0327%, respectively, at 16 rph of the desiccant wheel with 127.23 kg/h air flow rate. The system is also used to generate dry air for 14 h a day with PCM, which shows that acetamide used as the PCM has an ability to store an adequate amount of heat to regenerate the desiccant wheel during off-sunshine hours.

KEYWORDS:

• Air flow rate
• dehumidification
• desiccant wheel
• evacuated tube solar air collector
• phase change material
• regeneration