EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS ON THE THERMAL EFFECTS IN PACKED-BED LIQUID DESICCANT DEHUMIDIFIERS

This paper describes an experimental study to determine xi, a paramete r defined in an earlier analytical study as the fraction of the heat o f dilution in packed bed liquid desiccant dehumidifiers that goes into the air stream. Xi was determined at various operating conditions in a packed bed using calcium chloride solution as the liquid desiccant i n countercurrent flow with air. Xi has been correlated in terms of L/G ratios, gas Reynolds number, the ambient number, and a new parameter, the desiccant number. An extension of the epsilon-NTU model incorpora ting xi is presented, and comparison with data, both present and those reported in the literature, show good agreement.