2007 Volume 15 Issue 3 Pages 141-150
This paper describes sorption characteristics of organic sorbent coated on heat transfer surface of a plate-fin-tube heat exchanger. The organic sorbent is a bridged complex of soldium polyacrylate. This bridged complex containing the carboxyl group as water vapor adsorption site has a larger adsorption abilities as compared with silica gel. The experiments in which the moist air was passed into the heat exchanger coated with sorption material were conducted under various conditions of air flow rate and the temperature of brine that was the heat transfer fluid to cool the air flow in the dehumidifying process. It is found that the sorption rate of vapor is affected by the air flow rate and the brine temperature. Meanwhile, the attempt of clarifying the sorption mechanism is also conducted. Finally the average mass transfer coefficient of the organic sorbent was non-dimensionalized as a function of Reynolds number and non-dimensional temperature. In addition, it was observed that the factor which affects the sorption rate in the water vapor sorption process of the organic sorbent coated on the heat exchanger shifts from the “adsorption step” to the “sorption step”.
