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499 - A Sensitivity Analysis Of A Desiccant Wheel

P. Bourdoukan1*, E. Wurtz2, P. Joubert1 and M. Sprandio1


1

LEPTIAB, Universit de La Rochelle La Rochelle, Avenue Marillac, 17000 La Rochelle, France


2

Universit de Savoie, Campus Scientifique, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France


*

Corresponding Author, paul.bourdoukan@univ-lr.fr

Abstract Desiccant cooling powered by solar energy and using water as a refrigerant has a low environmental impact and appears as an important technique to reduce energy consumption in buildings. The cooling potential of the system is based on the performance of the desiccant wheel that removes humidity from outside air to increase the potential of the humidifier. In this paper a sensitivity analysis of the desiccant wheel dehumidification is performed using the design of experiments. The impact of outside temperature, outside humidity ratio, the regeneration temperature and the regeneration humidity ratio is studied on the dehumidification rate of the wheel using experimental and numerical results. Keywords: solar desiccant cooling, sensitivity, experiments, simulation

1. Introduction
Solar desiccant cooling is a heat driven technique powered by solar collectors. It is based on evaporative cooling and utilizes a desiccant wheel to remove humidity from outside air. When adsorbing the humidity the desiccant needs to be regenerated by moderately hot air stream provided by solar collectors. This technology presents the advantages of being friendly environmental since its electrical consumption is limited to the auxiliaries (fans and pumps), beside it use water as a refrigerant in opposition to vapor compression technique using refrigerants with high environmental impact. The general scheme of a solar desiccant cooling plant is shown in the figure 1 below:

Fig. 1. Desiccant cooling installation and evolution of air properties in the psychometric chart With reference to Fig. 1 the conventional cycle operates as follows: first, outside air (1) is dehumidified in a desiccant wheel (2); it is then cooled in the sensible regenerator (3) by the return cooled air before undergoing another cooling stage by an evaporative process (4), finally, it is

introduced into the building. The operating sequence for the return air (5) is as follows: it is first cooled to its saturation temperature by evaporative cooling (6) and then it cools the fresh air in the rotary heat exchanger (7). It is then heated in the regeneration heat exchanger (8) and finally regenerates the desiccant wheel (9) by removing the humidity before exiting the installation. The task of the desiccant wheel is first to reduce the humidity of outside air in order to match indoor air standards and second to provide an extra dehumidification to increase the potential of supply humidifier. The desiccant wheel appears as a key component. The dehumidification performance of the desiccant wheel depends on the operating conditions [1] e.g. the wheel rotation speed, the air flow rate, the outside temperature and outside humidity, the regeneration temperature and regeneration humidity. Usually an optimum rotation speed and optimum air flow rate are recommended by the manufacturer thus these two parameters are constant during the operations but outside and regeneration conditions are not. So the performance of the desiccant wheel depends intrinsically on these parameters. In this paper a sensitivity analysis is conducted on a desiccant wheel using the silica gel as an adsorbent to investigate the effect of outside and regeneration conditions on the performance of the desiccant wheel. The method used in this analysis is design of experiments (DOE) [2]

2. Sensitivity analysis
2.1. Design of experiments In the DOE the response (y) of the studied phenomena influenced by different parameters or factors (xi) is expressed using a polynomial form [2]:

y = a 0 + ai xi +
i =1

i =1, j =1

ij xi x j +

ijk i =1, j =1,k =1

xi x j x k + ... + a1... N xi ... x N (1)

y is the response of the phenomena xi is a factor or parameter influencing the phenomena a0 is a constant effect, ai is the effect of single parameter aij is the effect of double interaction, aijk is the effect of triple interaction

It is evident that the number of effect to be determined will need the same number of experiments. In order to estimate the effects, each parameter varies between an upper and lower limit, so each parameter has two levels [2]. In our case we have 4 parameters; each one varying between 2 limits which mean we have 24 effects to be determined and 16 combinations (experiments) are then needed. The following range of the parameters was considered: Outside temperature T1: [25, 35] [C]
Outside humidity ratio w1: [11, 14.5] [g/kg] Regeneration temperature T8 [55, 75] [C] Regeneration humidity ratio w8 [10; 15] [g/kg]

Outside temperature and humidity ranges correspond to the most of the European climates (except some humid Mediterranean climates) and match with the domain of application of desiccant cooling (e.g. moderately hot and moderately humid climates). The upper limit of regeneration temperature domain is consistent with solar application with temperature not exceeding 75C while

the lower limit is the minimum required for the silica gel. For the regeneration humidity ratio range it is taken with the consideration of the outlet conditions of the return humidifier. 2.2. Experimental setup The experimental installation of La Rochelle [1] is used for the measurements of the performance of the desiccant wheel. This experimental installation consists of a silica gel desiccant wheel and aluminum sensible regenerator and two rotating humidifiers. At the inlet and outlet of each component a psychrometer is used to measure the dry and wet bulb temperature. The local atmospheric pressure is measured too thus using the dry and wet blub temperature the humidity ratio is then measured accurately. At the desiccant wheel outlet, the dry bulb temperature and the humidity ratio are not uniform. In order to have an accurate measurement of the mean outlet temperature and humidity, three humidity measurements and 6 temperature measurements are performed simultaneously. The major parts of the dehumidification rates (w1-w2) used in the sensitivity analyses are experimental measurements but when a combination of parameters is not possible experimentally numerical results of the desiccant wheel model are used to complete the required combinations. The model used will be introduced in the following section.

3. Desiccant wheel model


3.1. Model description The heat and mass transfer model for the desiccant wheel used below is based on the analogy method with heat transfer that occurs in the sensible heat regenerator. It was first introduced by Banks [3] and Maclaine cross [4] then Jurinak [5] and Stabat [6] improved the model. The following assumptions are considered:
The state properties of the air streams are spatially uniform at the desiccant wheel inlet The interstices of the porous medium are straight and parallel No leakage or carry-over of streams The interstitial air velocity and pressure are constant Heat and mass transfer between air and porous desiccant matrix is considered using lumped transfer coefficients Diffusion and dispersion in the fluid flow direction are neglected No radial variation of the fluid or matrix states The sorption isotherm does not represent a hysteresis Air reaches equilibrium with the porous medium

The heat and mass conservation equations:

ha h H d +u a + =0 t z t

wa w Wd +u a + =0 t z t

(2)

(3)

Heat and mass transfer equations:

H d h h + J m ( Le(Ta ,eq Ta ) a ) + ( wa ,eq wa ) a t Ta w wa

=0
T

Wd + J m ( wa ,eq wa ) = 0 t
(5)

(4)

Equations (2), (3), (4) and (5) are coupled hyperbolic non-linear. With the assumption of the Lewis number (Le), equal unity and the desiccant matrix in equilibrium with air means (Td= Teq and weq= wa). Banks [2] used matrix algebra and proved that these equations can be reduced using potential function Fi(T,w) to the following system:

i
i

Fi ,eq t
Fi ,d t
(6)

+u

Fi ,a Fi ,a + = 0 i=1;2 t z

+ J m ( Fi ,eq Fi ,a ) = 0 i=1;2

(7) Introducing the equations of heat transfer alone in the sensible regenerator as stated in [3]:

c pm Ta Ta Tm +u + =0 t z c pa + wa c pv t
(8)

c pm c pa + wa c pv
(9)

Tm + J t (Ta ,m Ta ) = 0 t

These equations (6) and (7) are similar to those of the sensible regenerator (8) and (9). In the case of the desiccant wheel the potential function Fi replace the temperature and the parameters i replace the specific heat ratio. Thus these equations can now be solved using analogy with heat transfer alone [3] by applying the correlation introduced by Kays [7] for the sensible regenerators given by:

= cf 1
(10) Where

9(C

* 1.93 r

C r* =

M m .c pm . N C min
(11)

cf =

NUTcf 1 + NUTcf

(12) cf is the efficiency of the counter flow heat exchanger for balanced flow.

Many expressions exist for the potential functions of silica gel - air; we chose those used [6].

F1 = h

F2 =

(273.15 + T )1.5
6360 (14)

(13)

+ 1.1w 0.8

The model described above, was implemented to SPARK [8] a general simulation environment based on equation. In the next section the model is validated experimentally. 3.2. Experimental validation The experimental installation presented in section 2 is used to validate the above presented model. Different inlet conditions were considered with temperature varying form 25C to 38C and humidity ratio from 10 to 15 g/kg and for different regeneration temperature (55C, 60C 65C, 70C and 80C).
Desiccant wheel 3 2.5

Temperature error ( C)

2 1.5 1 0.5 0 -0.5 -1 -1.5 -2 -2.5 -3 -1 -0.75-0.5-0.25 0 0.25 0.5 0.75 Humidity ratio error (g/kg) 1 Treg=80 Treg=70 Treg=65 Treg=60

Fig. 2. Temperature error versus humidity ratio error at the outlet of the desiccant wheel The figure 2 [9] plots the temperature error versus the humidity ratio error for the most significant points. It shows the maximum predicted error 0.4 g/kg and root mean squared error (RMSE) is 0.22 g/kg. For the temperature and the maximum committed error in the outlet temperature is 1 C for RMSE of 0.65 C. It must be noted that the uncertainty in the measurement of the mean values is 0.7C for the temperature and 0.3 g/kg. It shows that the committed errors are in the domain of the uncertainty of the measurements. In the following section the experiments are performed on the desiccant using experimental measurements and numerical results in order to perform the sensitivity analsysis.

4. Sensitivity results and analysis


4.1 Results Experiments have been conducted on the desiccant wheel with the parameters (e.g. outside temperature, outside humidity ratio, regeneration temperature and regeneration humidity ratio) varying in the range defined in the section 2. The complete DOE of 4 parameters operating between 2 levels needs 24=16 experiments. When a combination of the studied parameters was

difficult to achieve experimentally (3 experiments) the results of the model was used to complete the DOE. Table 1 below shows the results Table 1. Dehumidification rate of the desiccant wheel for different operating conditions T1 [C] 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 * w1 T8 w8 w1-w2 [g/kg] [C] [g/kg] [g/kg] 11 55 10 4.8 11 55 15 3.6 11 75 10 6.8 11 75 15 5.8 14.5 55 10 5.4* 14.5 55 15 4.3 14.5 75 10 8 14.5 75 15 7 Calculated by the model T1 [C] 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 35 w1 [g/kg] 11 11 11 11 14.5 14.5 14.5 14.5 T8 [C] 55 55 75 75 55 55 75 75 w8 [g/kg] 10 15 10 15 10 15 10 15 w1-w2 [g/kg] 2.9 1.7* 5.2 4.1 4.1 2.95 6.7 5.6*

Solving 16 equations for the effects identified in the equation (1). The dehumidification of the desiccant wheel is then written in function of the operating parameters

(T 65) ( w 12,5) ( w 12.75) (T1 30) + 0,6275 1 + 1,1438 8 0,491 8 + 4 20 5 10 (T 30) ( w1 12.75) (T 30) (T8 65) (T 30) ( w8 12,5) 0,0425 1 + 0,0888 1 0,086 1 + 10 4 10 20 10 5 (T 65) ( w8 12,5) ( w 12.75) (T8 65) ( w 12.75) ( w8 12,5) 0,0563 1 + 0,0788 1 0,053 8 4 20 4 5 20 5 w1 w2 = 4,987 0,828
The equation was limited to the double effect (negligible indeed) since for the triple effect and above effects are very close to zero. 4.2 Analysis Form the equation identified we notice a constant dehumidifying effect of 4,987 g/kg which will be increased or decreased depending on the operating conditions. In order to compare the effect of each parameter with the constant effect, they are divided by this later and a graphical comparison can thus be established. The figure below shows the effect of each parameter. As commonly known, figure 3 shows tha the regeneration temperature has the most significant impact on the dehumidification performance of the desiccant wheel. In the same time outside conditions has an important impact on too. Increasing the regeneration temperature from the mean value (65C) to its upper limit will increase the dehumidification 23%
Increasing the outside temperature to its higher limit will decrease the dehumidification of 17%. Increasing the outside humidity ratio will increase the performance of the desiccant wheel of 13% Increasing the regeneration humidity ratio will decrease the performance of the desiccant wheel of 8%.

The reason behind these observations is the vapor pressure difference of the air and that of the surface of the silica gel. This vapor pressure difference is the driving force of the adsorption phenomena. Reminding that if the desiccant is cold the vapor pressure at its surface. For the moist air the temperature does not have a significant impact on the vapor pressure while humidity ratio does.

The desiccant coming for the regeneration sector is hot and dry, it is first cooled down by the outside air in the process sector and then the adsorption occurs.
30

Effect of the parameter [%]

20

10

-10

-20

-30

Fig. 3 Effect of the operating conditions and their combinations

So if we increase the temperature of the outside air its vapor pressure will not increase significantly in reversal it will not cool sufficiently the hot desiccant form arriving from the regeneration sector yielding a high vapor pressure at the surface of the desiccant and thus the adsorption will be less efficient. If we increase the humidity ratio of the outside air its vapor pressure will increase significantly yielding a higher vapor pressure difference thus increasing the adsorption. When increasing the regeneration temperature, the regeneration air vapor pressure does not increase significantly while the desiccant is heated and its vapor pressure increases leading to an efficient drying of the desiccant. This desiccant leaving the regeneration sector is dry and thus having fewer vapor particles, yielding a low vapor pressure at its surface and thus high adsorption. When increasing the regeneration humidity ratio we will increase the vapor pressure of regeneration air stream, reducing the transfer from the desiccant to the regeneration air, yielding less drying of the desiccant. When the sorbent will leave the regeneration with more water vapor at its surface its vapor pressure is then higher, reducing thus the adsorption. This clearly shows the limitations of the desiccant cooling technique regarding outside conditions. It demonstrates that high outside temperature reduces significantly the performance of the desiccant wheel. Regarding the outside humidity ratio even if the dehumidification increase with increasing outside humidity ratio, we noticed that for outside temperature beyond 30C the maximum dehumidification rate is 6 g/kg. Taking into account the maximum humidity inside the building (e.g. 11.8 g/kg) and the humidification across the supply humidifier we conclude that the maximum outside humidity under which a desiccant system will operate efficiently is 14.5 g/kg.

T1

w1

T8

w8

Parameter

T1.w1

T1.T8

T1.w8

w1.T8

w1.w8

T8.w8

5. Conclusion
In this paper a sensitivity analysis based on the design of experiments was conducted on a desiccant wheel using mainly experimental results. A numerical model was validated experimentally and provided the missing combination of the experiments. The impact of the outside and regeneration conditions on the dehumidification rate of the desiccant wheel was studied. As widely known the regeneration temperature has the most significant impact on the dehumidification rate, but the impact of the outside temperature, outside humidity ratio and the

regeneration humidity ratio are very important as well. These results showed that desiccant cooling is an interesting option for moderately hot and moderately humid climates

Nomenclature
cpa cpv cpm C Fi ha H Jt Jm Le ma Md Mm N heat capacity of air [J.Kg-1.K-1] heat capacity of water vapour [J.Kg-1.K-1] heat capacity of the regenerator matrix [J.Kg-1.K-1] heat capacity (J.Kg-1.K-1) potential characteristic [-] enthalpy of moist air [J.Kg-1] enthalpy of the desiccant [J.Kg-1] lumped heat transfer coefficient [s-1] lumped mass transfer coefficient [s-1] Lewis number [-] air mass flow rate [Kg.s-1] mass of the desiccant matrix [Kg] mass of the aluminium matrix [Kg] angular speed of the wheel [rd.s-1] NUT number of transfer unit [-] RMSE Root mean squared error [unity of the variable] t time [s] T temperature [K] Ta air temperature [K] Teq equilibrium temperature [K] Tm matrix temperature [K] u fluid velocity (m.s-1) wa humidity ratio of moist air. [Kg/Kg] Wd water content of desiccant [Kg/Kg] z coordinate in the flow direction [m] ratio of matrix mass over air mass [-] efficiency [-] density [Kg.m-3] i parameter [-]

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Mr Michel Burlot for his valuable technical support on the experimental installation. This work was supported by ADEME (French Agency of the Environment and Energy Management) and the regional council of Poitou Charentes.

References
[1] P. Bourdoukan., E. Wurtz., P. Joubert., M. Sperandio,. (2008). Potential of solar heat pipe vacuum collectors in the desiccant cooling process: modelling and experimental results. Solar Energy. 0.1016/j.solener.2008.06.003 [2] J. Goupy, (2001). Introduction aux plans d'expriences, Dunod. [3] P.J. Banks, (1972). Coupled equilibrium heat and single adsorbate transfer in field flow through a porous medium- 1. Caracteristics potentials and specific capacity ratios. Chemical Engineering Science, 27, 1143-1155. [4] I.L. Maclaine-cross, P.J. Banks, (1972). Coupled heat and mass transfer in regenerators- prediction using analogy with heat transfer. Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer, 15, 1225-1242. [5] J.J. Jurinak. (1982). Open cycle solid dessicant cooling - component models and system simulation, Ph.D, Winconsin, Madison. [6] P. Stabat, (2003). Modlisation de composants de systmes de climatisation mettant en oeuvre l'adsorption et l'evaporation d'eau, Ph.D, Ecole des Mines, Paris. [7] W.M. Kays, A.L London, (1984). Compact Heat Exchangers, McGraw-Hill, New York. [8] SPARK. (2003). Simulation Problem Analysis and Research Kernel. LBNL, Berkeley,California. [9] P. Bourdoukan., E. Wurtz., P. Joubert., M. Sperandio, (2008). Critical efficiencies of components in desiccant cooling cycles and a comparison between the conventional mode and the recirculation mode." In proceedings of ECOS conference, Krakow, Poland, 1, 435-443

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