Experimental analysis on the dehumidification and thermal performance of a desiccant wheel

The advantages of desiccant-based air conditioning systems, compared to conventional ones based on the dehumidification by cooling, have been highlighted in many research papers. The energy saving and the reduction of the environmental impact are higher when the desiccant material is regenerated by using “free” thermal energy (for example, waste heat from cogenerators or solar energy). Further investigation on the performance of the desiccant wheel is useful: therefore, in this paper, an experimental analysis on this component is presented, with particular attention to the variation of the performance as a function of the process and regeneration air flow rates. The desiccant material is regenerated by means of low-temperature thermal energy (about 65 °C) from a microcogenerator. Both the experimental results obtained by the authors and the data provided by the manufacturer have been used to calculate some performance parameters, and a satisfactory agreement has been obtained. rformance parameters have been evaluated as a function of the regeneration temperature, the inlet process air humidity ratio and temperature and the ratio between the regeneration and process air flow rates, in both the cases of fixed regeneration temperature and fixed regeneration thermal power: the results show that higher influence on the dehumidification process is due to the regeneration temperature rather than to the regeneration air flow rate. Moreover, the process air humidity ratio and regeneration temperature influence the desiccant wheel performance more than the process air temperature.