Experimental Effectiveness Investigation of Liquid-to-air Membrane Energy Exchangers under Low Heat Capacity Rates Conditions

Abstract

The liquid-to-air membrane energy exchanger is a novel membrane base energy exchanger that allows both heat and moisture transfer between air and a salt solution using a membrane. The heat and mass transfer performance of a single one is significantly dependent on two dimensionless parameters: number of heat transfer units and the ratio of heat capacity rates between solution flow and airflow (Cr*). In this study, the effectiveness of a small-scale liquid-to-air membrane energy exchanger under low Cr* conditions (i.e., Cr* < 1) that has been not investigated previously is experimentally and numerically tested.