Experimental investigation and optimization of total energy consumption in humidification-dehumidification system

Abstract

In this paper, the electricity consumption model and pressure drop model of humidification-dehumidification (HDH) system is developed. An experimental study is carried out to investigate the effects of operating parameters on the pressure drop of HDH system. The pressure drops in humidifier, dehumidifier and the total pressure drop increase with the increase of air and solution mass flow rate. The values of undetermined coefficient in the pressure drop model are obtained based on the experimental data. Meanwhile, the validation of the pressure drop model is varied though experiment. On this basis, the optimization model for minimum specific total energy consumption (STEC) is proposed. The optimization results show that the value of optimized STEC increase with the increase of evaporation rate requirements. The value of air mass flow rate (mg) should be as small as possible. The adjustment of solution mass flow rate (ml) and solution inlet temperature in humidifier (Tlhi) is a priority. The minimum value of optimized STEC is 822.676 kJ/kg.