Dehumidification effects in the superheated region (SPR) of a direct expansion (DX) air cooling coil

A DX air cooling coil may normally be assumed to have two regions in its refrigerant side, according to refrigerant status, a two-phase region (TPR) and a superheated region (SPR). Dry air side surface of the SPR in a DX air cooling coil has been normally assumed in lumped-parameter mathematical models previously developed without however being validated. Therefore, an experimental study has been carried out to examine such an assumption under different operating conditions. The experimental results suggested that the air side surface of the SPR in a DX air cooling coil was either fully or partially wet under all experimental conditions and assuming dry air side of the SPR could lead to an underestimated total amount of water vapor condensed on the entire DX coil surface. Therefore, it is recommended that the assumption of dry air side in a SPR be no longer used in future lumped-parameter models to be developed for improved modeling accuracy.