Study on Membrane Contactors: Performance Analysis, System Simulation and Fields of Application
Autore
Francesco Vestrelli - Università degli studi di Genova - [2006]
Documenti
Abstract
The present work of research reports the theoretical and experimental study of membrane contactors for the air conditioning. Such components allow to realize a thermal and mass exchange between the process air and the salt solution that flows in the contactor absorbing vapour from the air by means of the adoption of a semi-permeable membrane as separation surface. When high latent loads have to be faced or when an heat amount otherwise wasted is available for the regeneration of the solution, significant power savings can be obtained avoiding the direct contact between the salt solution and the process air that brings some disadvantages detailed through this study [chapter 2].
Therefore the analysis of the component has been developed through the following steps.
- definition and optimization of a Fortran code for the simulation of the single component;
- check of the congruence between the simulation results and the results of experimental tests performed on prototypes built by the DIPTEM;
- study of the performances of the component in humidification and dehumidification mode in a wide range of working conditions by means of the simulation code [chapter 3].
The second part of the work has studied complete systems using membrane contactors for air conditioning [chapter 4], through the following steps:
- definition of Matlab-Simulink models for the air conditioning systems considered;
- by means of these models, calculation of the power savings obtainable with such systems with membrane contactors in spite of traditional air conditioning systems for civil application [chapter 5] and automotive [chapter 6] application.
The values calculated for the power saving have been used for some economical evaluations considering the higher installation and assistance costs of a system with membrane contactors in spite of a traditional system working eith vapour compression [chapter 7].
Finally, the membrane contactor shows a great versatility due to the fact that it is possible to absorb every substance -not only vapour- simply choosing the right solution for the absorption process. In the present study some examples of these further application have been reported.
Therefore the analysis of the component has been developed through the following steps.
- definition and optimization of a Fortran code for the simulation of the single component;
- check of the congruence between the simulation results and the results of experimental tests performed on prototypes built by the DIPTEM;
- study of the performances of the component in humidification and dehumidification mode in a wide range of working conditions by means of the simulation code [chapter 3].
The second part of the work has studied complete systems using membrane contactors for air conditioning [chapter 4], through the following steps:
- definition of Matlab-Simulink models for the air conditioning systems considered;
- by means of these models, calculation of the power savings obtainable with such systems with membrane contactors in spite of traditional air conditioning systems for civil application [chapter 5] and automotive [chapter 6] application.
The values calculated for the power saving have been used for some economical evaluations considering the higher installation and assistance costs of a system with membrane contactors in spite of a traditional system working eith vapour compression [chapter 7].
Finally, the membrane contactor shows a great versatility due to the fact that it is possible to absorb every substance -not only vapour- simply choosing the right solution for the absorption process. In the present study some examples of these further application have been reported.
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