Modeling and simulation of desiccant wheel for air conditioning

This paper presents the modeling of a desiccant wheel used for dehumidifying the ventilation air of an air-conditioning system. The simulation of the combined heat and mass transfer processes that occur in a solid desiccant wheel is carried out with MATLAB Simulink. Using the numerical method, the performance of an adiabatic rotary dehumidifier is parametrically studied, and the optimal rotational speed is determined by examining the outlet adsorption-side humidity profiles. The solutions of the simulation at different conditions used in air dehumidifier have been investigated according to the previous published studies. The model is validated through comparison the simulated results with the published actual values of an experimental work. This method is useful to study and modelling of solid desiccant dehumidification and cooling system. The modeling solutions are used to develop simple correlations for the outlet air conditions of humidity and temperature of air through the wheel as a function of the physically measurable input variables. These correlations will be used to simulate the desiccant cooling cycle in an HVAC system in order to define the year round efficiency. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.