Experimental heat and mass transfer of the separated and coupled rotating desiccant wheel and heat wheel

The experimental evaluation of the separated and coupled rotating desiccant wheel and heat wheel is reported. The study aims to investigate the performance of the desiccant wheel and of the heat wheel both when operated separately and jointly. The performance evaluation of the desiccant wheel is based on its moisture removal capacity (MRC), moisture removal regeneration (MRR), and moisture mass balance (MMB). In addition, the study used the total energy balance (TEB), sensible coefficient of performance (COP_Sensible), latent coefficient of performance (COP_Latent) and, total coefficient of performance (COP_Total). The performance of the heat wheel is based on its effectiveness. The COP_Sensible, COP_Latent and, COP_Total are used in the performance evaluation of the coupled desiccant wheel and heat wheel. The general results of the study show that the MRC, MRR and MMB coupled with the TEB, COP_Latent, COP_Sensible and COP_Total predict adequately the performance of the desiccant wheel. In addition, the coupled operation of the desiccant wheel and heat wheel, contributed to the reduction of the external thermal energy requirement for the regeneration of the desiccant wheel. This study can be applied in other researches seeking evaluation of the desiccant wheel, heat wheel, and their combined operation. Moreover, the data presented here are significant for the desiccant wheel benchmarking and for evaluation of the desiccant wheel models.