Numerical Simulation of a Rotary Desiccant Wheel

G. Diglio[1], P. Bareschino[1], G. Angrisani[1], M. Sasso[1], F. Pepe[1]
[1]Università degli Studi del Sannio, Benevento, Italy
Published in 2013

The core unit of desiccant cooling systems is a dehumidifying device, in most cases a wheel made of inert material coated with an adsorbent (silica gel in the present work). Two sections can be identified: air to be dehumidified was passed through the process section, while in the regeneration section water vapour was removed from the adsorbent by means of dry and hot air. Solving gas-phase mass-transfer, solid-phase mass-transfer, overall energy balance and taking into account the dependence of thermodynamic properties of moist air with temperature, a general predictive model of the behaviour of the wheel was developed and the performance of the desiccant wheel under various design and operational parameters was analyzed.