Experimental Study of Air Dehumidification in an Electrostatic Wire-Cylinder Condenser

Usually, to reduce the air humidity and to retain the water which is present in the air, the phase change heat exchangers are used. The operation of such a device involves the condensation of water vapor with a condenser whose temperature is maintained below the dew point. Depending of the nature of the application, the energy used for condenser cooling can reach important values. This paper is focused on the experimental study of the corona discharge influence on the air dehumidification process in a simple electrostatic wire-cylinder condenser. The principle of an electrostatic enhanced condenser is to use the corona discharge effects like electrostatic forces acting on the polar water molecules and electroaerodynamic induced flow in view to increase the water condensation rate on the cooled element. The experiments were performed on a set-up containing a wire-cylinder condenser with adjustable temperature. The preliminary results indicate that the corona discharge increase the water condensation rate and the efficiency of the studied condenser.