Suitability analysis of a temperature and humidity control device using a desiccant rotor

Abstract

As the amount of ventilation required in buildings has increased to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the inflow of high humidity outside air in summer has increased the processing rate of latent heat loads as well as sensible heat loads. Accordingly, the ability to handle the latent heat load with low energy consumption has become important in order to maintain a comfortable indoor environment. In this study, a humidity control device composed of a desiccant rotor was designed and manufactured, and performance experiments were performed. Using an empirical formula obtained through experiments, a thermal environment simulation was conducted for a school classroom. Furthermore, a temperature-humidity control device that combines a desiccant rotor and heat pump was proposed, and the performance and energy consumption were analyzed by comparing it with the existing heat pump design. With conventional temperature control method using a heat pump, the average indoor relative humidity values in August were 65.7 %, which exceeds the set relative humidity range of 50±5 %. On the other hand, when using the temperature-humidity control device, the average indoor relative humidity values in August was 50.2 %, a more comfortable indoor environment than when using a conventional method. In addition, the energy consumption was reduced by 3 % compared to existing heat pump design.