Simulation study on the electro-osmotic characteristic of a dehumidification fin

Abstract

To appropriately design the hygroscopic sheets used in a dehumidification fin and predict the performance, this paper proposes an electro-osmotic model using the lattice Boltzmann method to numerically investigate the electro-osmotic characteristics of solid desiccants (macroporous silica gel and activated alumina), which is the main component of a dehumidification fin. To describe the internal structure of the solid desiccants, two types of reconstruction methods were used to generate the internal geometry of the porous medium. By comparing the accuracies of these two reconstructed geometries (Sierpinski carpet and quartet structure generation set, QSGS), the QSGS combined with the lattice Boltzmann method was further considered to study the electro-osmotic characteristics of the solid desiccants. The proposed model simulates the variations in the electro-osmotic flow rate in the macroporous silica gel and activated alumina. The influence factors, including the external electric field, voidage, pore size, zeta potential, and ionic concentration, are discussed in detail. Sensitivity analyses of these parameters were also conducted.