Experimental study on wavy fin desiccant coated heat exchanger for hybrid air conditioning systems

The desiccant-coated heat exchanger (DCHE) is an energy-efficient alternative dehumidification equipment for humidity control in air conditioning. It exhibits a higher dehumidification performance than other solid desiccant systems and can simultaneously handle both latent and sensible loads. Taking the clue of research outcomes from the alternative heat exchangers to enhance the performance, a wavy fin DCHE is designed, fabricated and tested. Objectives of the study are to (i) analyse the dynamic performance of DCHE, (ii) compare the heat and mass transfer characteristics of plain and wavy fin-type DCHEs, and (iii) examine the influence of different operating parameters on the performance. The experimental investigation shows that the dehumidification capacity and thermal coefficient of performance of the proposed wavy fin DCHE are 0.34 g/s and 1.041, respectively, which are 75% and 60% higher than the conventional plain fin type. In addition, the developed DCHE has an average cooling capacity of 0.85 kW, which is 42% higher. Besides, the total quantity of moisture adsorbed also increased by 35%. Furthermore, the sensitivity analysis of the parametric study identified air velocity, cold water temperature, and inlet humidity ratio as the most influential operating parameters on the performance of wavy fin DCHE.