Effect of Camshaft Speed and Packing Thickness on a Multistage Reciprocating Dehumidifier using Analytical Approach

Humidity in the living room needs be regulated to maintain thermal comfort. Liquid desiccant dehumidification proved to be an effective and environmentally friendly way of dehumidifying air compared to conventional air conditioning units. The present paper focuses on designing and fabricating the dehumidifier unit where the packing is in dynamic motion. Four Celdek 7090 packings are positioned at different positions reciprocated using cam follower mechanism. When the air circulates through the duct, dehumidification performance parameters such as moisture effectiveness, moisture removal rate and mass transfer coefficient are determined. A mathematical model is constructed, and performance prediction is carried out for different camshaft speed and the packing thickness. The prediction results are compared with the experimental results. Desiccant concentration at the outlet is determined using both approaches. Results indicated that the system gave moisture effectiveness, moisture removal rate and mass transfer coefficient equal to 0.77, 2.28 g/s, 14.89 kg/m²-s. Performance is improved when the cam shaft is increased from 6 to 10 rpm and there afterwards performance is deteriorated. Maximum performance was obtained for 20 mm thick pad.