Improvement of Dehumidification Performance of Desiccant Rotors Regenerated at a Low Temperature

This paper presents a highly effective desiccant rotor that can be regenerated at a temperature between 20 and 30°C, corresponding to return air exhausted from conditioned spaces. The desiccant rotor consists of a honeycomb structure, which is coated with organic polymer desiccant materials. For a specific operating condition, the desiccant rotor functions as a rotary total heat exchanger. Desiccant rotors with thickness of 0.2 m and more lead to both higher dehumidification and temperature efficiencies compared to conventional total rotary heat exchangers in different states of the inlet process and regeneration airflows. Both the dehumidification and temperature efficiencies achieve 100% at a thickness of 0.4 m, and at rotational speeds between 100 and 300 rph. Dehumidification, together with cooling, is very effective. For the desiccant rotor with a thickness of 0.4 m, the humidity change of the process air corresponds closely to isothermal dehumidification. In terms of the dehumidification and cooling functions, the performance of the desiccant rotor with thickness of 0.2 m and more is very advantageous compared to conventional desiccant rotors and rotary total heat exchangers.