A STUDY ON AN EVAPORATOR-CONDENSER COMBINATION FOR HUMIDITY CONTROL IN AN AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM

An experimental study has been perfi)rmed on an evaporator-condenser
system for humidity control using a constant speed compressor and fixed air volume.
The evaporator-condenser system requires an addition of a reheat coil to the
conventional unit. The reheat coil serves to reheat the cooled air leaving the cooling
coils, thereby controlling the relative humidity. Preliminary simulations using the
software Vapcyc and CoilDesigner show an improvement in the cooling performance
and also an improvement in the dehumidification capability of the air conditioning
system. Thereafter, an experimental study was performed using a modified
commercial ceiling concealed air conditioning unit. Results from the experiments
show that the dehumidification capability in terms of absolute humidity and relative
humidity had improved, while the cooling performance had declined. Vapcyc and
Coi!Designer are not suitable to simulate evaporator-condenser systems as they were
only originally designed for conventional cooling systems. A comparison between the
evaporator-condenser, desiccant wheel and loop heat pipe systems has been shown.
While all systems are able to enhance moisture removal, the evaporator-condenser
system is advantageous in simplicity, floor space and method of controlling the
moisture removal rate. The concomitant benefits are a more comfortable environment,
better productivity and more healthy conditions.