Performance study on the dehumidifier of a packed bed liquid desiccant system

A liquid desiccant evaporation cooling air conditioning system is introducedin this paper, in which the dehumidier and regenerator play the most important role. forliquid-gas contact, packed towers with a low pressure drop provide good heat and masstransfer characteristics for compact designs. the experimental data have been obtainedfrom a built prototype of a liquid desiccant system in a packed bed unit with a surfacearea per unit volume ratio of 125 m2/m3; the liquid desiccant being lithium chloride. theresult showed that the mean mass transfer coecient of the packing dehumidier was0.02 kg/m2s. also, the absorber characteristic parameter, the packing size or number oftransfer units (ntu) and air-to-desiccant solution mass ow rate ratio (asmr) arecrucial parameters. these parameters, which aect humidity eectiveness and enthalpyeciency, are introduced and dened in this paper, and high eciency may be achievedif proper values of these variables are selected. in this study, enthalpy eciency fromexperimental results has been compared with analytical computation results based onoptimum asmr. from the analytical solution, an optimum mass ow rate ratio can bededuced for optimal design of both dehumidiers and regenerators. in this study, thebehavior of the absorber has also been considered.