Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Objective
To investigate dehumidification of air by cooling.
Method
Warm air can contain more water vapour than cool air. By cooling the air below the
dew point, it can no longer contain the same amount of water and condensation
occurs. The cooled air thus contains less moisture, but is at a high relative humidity
as it is almost saturated. Warming up this air again reduces the relative humidity.
Note: in dry ambient conditions it may be necessary to use the humidifier to condition
the air before cooling.
Equipment Required
RA3 Recirculating Air Conditioning Unit
RA3 Software
Theory
Cooling with dehumidification can be represented in diagram form as follows:
Open the inlet and outlet louvre fully and close the internal louvre. Set the speed to
40%.
For low or moderate Relative Humidity, it will be necessary to use the boiler to raise
the RH. In this case it will be possible to perform the experiment at different RH
44
Exercise D
settings and investigate the effects. In high ambient RH conditions it will not be
possible to use the boiler and the experiment will be performed on the ambient air.
Use the boiler (if possible) and the preheaters (if necessary) to achieve stable
temperature conditions and an RH of typically 70 to 80% % at point 2 (after the
preheat and humidification).
Use the reheat to return the air to as close as possible to the T2 value.
With the T2/RH2 conditions stable, take a data sample. It is also possible to collect
the condensate produced at the heat exchanger over a period of time and weigh it to
estimate the rate of dehumidification.
Repeat for different input RHs if time and ambient conditions allow.
If time permits, the experiment may be repeated at a lower air flow rate by adjusting
the fan speed setting. Ensure that the flow rate is never less than 0.3m/s.
Allow a few minutes for the temperatures to stabilise, and then switch off the fan.
If draining the boiler after use, remember to first allow sufficient time for the water to
cool.
Results
Plot the RH and the Humidity Ratio at points 2, 3 and 4.
From the change in Humidity Ratio across the chiller, and the mass flow rate
calculate the rate of dehumidification. Compare this with the condensate collected.
Discussion
What happens to the humidity ratio between points 2, 3 and 4? How does this differ
from the sensible heating experiment?
45