Comparison of Modeled and Measured Heat and Mass Transfer in a Liquid Desiccant Air-Conditioning System
Abstract
In the presented research study, experimental and numerical investigations on the heat and mass transfer of the absorber and regenerator in a liquid desiccant air conditioning system (LDAC-system) were carried out. The absorber and regenerator are designed as a tube bundle heat and mass exchanger with corrugated media as wicking fins. An aqueous solution of lithium chloride (LiCl-H2O) is used as desiccant. In the experiments all relevant in- and outlet parameters of the air, desiccant solution, as well as cooling and heating water are measured for different inlet air humidity ratios in the absorber and for different heating water temperatures in the regenerator. Moreover, three different numerical models were applied to predict the heat and mass transfer in the absorber and regenerator, i.e. a physical model, a simplified single-node effectiveness model, and a multi-node effectiveness model. Experimental and numerical results of the moisture removal rate as well as the change of the fluids temperatures were evaluated and compared.