Design and study of a novel system for solid desiccant dehumidification

Solid adsorption desiccant system has been paid more and more attentions nowadays, not only because it is friendly to the environment, but also because it can utilize low grade energy sources such as solar energy, geothermal energy or waste heat. How to improve the performance of heat and mass transfer is a key factor for the application of this kind of system. In this paper, a novel dehumidification device was designed and an experimental investigation on the adsorption and desorption operations were studied. Aluminum clad copper tube with external longitudinal fins were assembled into adsorption bed, which were covered by silica gel granules as desiccant. 13 degrees C cold water was used for refrigerating and improving adsorption effect, while 65 degrees C hot water was used as the heat source for silica gel regeneration. The experimental and calculation results show that the novel system can work effectively driven by low temperature source and the coefficient of performance (COP) is high.