Application of desiccant wheel to control humidity in air-conditioning systems

Control of relative humidity is an essential aspect of maintaining indoor air quality in an air-conditioned space. In this paper, a desiccant wheel integrated air-conditioner is studied for low humidity air-conditioning. The desiccant wheel dehumidifies and heats the supply air. The regeneration of desiccant is accomplished by the return air, which gets cooled and humidified. The study shows that the proposed system can deliver supply air at much lower dew point temperature compared to the conventional system with a marginal penalty on COP. Its performance is better than the typical reheat system to provide the same low humidity levels.