Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24F—AIR-CONDITIONING; AIR-HUMIDIFICATION; VENTILATION; USE OF AIR CURRENTS FOR SCREENING
  • F24F3/00—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems
  • F24F3/12—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling
  • F24F3/14—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling by humidification; by dehumidification
  • F24F3/1411—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling by humidification; by dehumidification by absorbing or adsorbing water, e.g. using an hygroscopic desiccant
  • F24F3/1417—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling by humidification; by dehumidification by absorbing or adsorbing water, e.g. using an hygroscopic desiccant with liquid hygroscopic desiccants
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24F—AIR-CONDITIONING; AIR-HUMIDIFICATION; VENTILATION; USE OF AIR CURRENTS FOR SCREENING
  • F24F5/00—Air-conditioning systems or apparatus not covered by F24F1/00 or F24F3/00, e.g. using solar heat or combined with household units such as an oven or water heater
  • F24F5/0007—Air-conditioning systems or apparatus not covered by F24F1/00 or F24F3/00, e.g. using solar heat or combined with household units such as an oven or water heater cooling apparatus specially adapted for use in air-conditioning
  • F24F5/001—Compression cycle type
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F24—HEATING; RANGES; VENTILATING
  • F24F—AIR-CONDITIONING; AIR-HUMIDIFICATION; VENTILATION; USE OF AIR CURRENTS FOR SCREENING
  • F24F3/00—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems
  • F24F3/12—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling
  • F24F3/14—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling by humidification; by dehumidification
  • F24F2003/144—Air-conditioning systems in which conditioned primary air is supplied from one or more central stations to distributing units in the rooms or spaces where it may receive secondary treatment; Apparatus specially designed for such systems characterised by the treatment of the air otherwise than by heating and cooling by humidification; by dehumidification by dehumidification only

Definitions

• U.S. Patent 4,984,434 describes an integrated system in which air to be cooled is first dehumidified by passing it through a desiccant type dehumidifier before being cooled by contact with an evaporator of an air conditioner. Regeneration of the desiccant is performed by passing the water containing desiccant over the condenser of the air conditioning system.
• This system suffers from a number of limitations. Firstly, it dehumidifies all of the air being cooled. Since most of the air inputted to the dehumidifier is from the controlled space (and thus fairly dry already) the dehumidifier does not remove much water from the air and thus does not provide much cooling for the condenser. This would cause an overall increase in the temperature of the desiccant and a reduction in the efficiency of both the dehumidifier and the air-conditioner. A second problem is that such a system is not modular, namely, the dehumidifier must be supplied as part of the system. Furthermore, adding a dehumidifier to an existing air conditioning system and integrating the dehumidifier and air conditioner to form the system of this patent appears to be impossible.
• dehumidifying/air conditioning system Another type of dehumidifying/air conditioning system is also known.
• a dry desiccant is placed in the air input of the air-conditioner to dry the input air before it is cooled. Waste heat (in the form of the exhaust air from the condenser) from the air conditioner is then brought into contact with the desiccant that has absorbed moisture from the input air in order to dry the desiccant.
• Waste heat in the form of the exhaust air from the condenser
• the air conditioner is then brought into contact with the desiccant that has absorbed moisture from the input air in order to dry the desiccant.
• the amount of drying available from the desiccant is relatively low.
• Prior art desiccant based dehumidifiers generally require the movement of the desiccant from a first region in which it absorbs moisture to a second regeneration region. In the case of solid desiccants, this transfer is achieved by physically moving the desiccant from a dehumidifying station to a regeneration station, for example by mounting the desiccant on a rotating wheel, a belt or the like.
• two pumps are generally provided, one for pumping the liquid to the regeneration station and the other for pumping the liquid from the regeneration station to the dehumidifying station.
• a single pump is used to pump from one station to the other, with the return flow being gravity fed.
• Fig. 1 shows a chart of temperature vs. absolute humidity in which iso-enthalpy and iso-relative humidity curves are superimposed.
• Normal air conditioners operate on the principle of cooling the input air by passing it over cooling coils. Assuming that the starting air conditions are at the spot marked with an X, the air is first cooled (curve 1) until its relative humidity is 100% at which point further cooling is associated with condensation of moisture in the air. In order for there to be removal of liquid from the air, it must be cooled to a temperature that is well below a comfort zone 4.
• the air entering the regeneration chamber is used to cool the refrigerant leaving the regeneration side.
• the present inventors have found that in the absence of some additional cooling of refrigerant, the system reaches a steady state at a high refrigerant temperature, at which the system is inefficient.
• One solution to this problem apparently provided by existing systems utilizing US
• Patent 6,018,954 is to add water to the system, which is evaporated out of the system, cooling the system to a substantial degree. Not only does this result in a waste of water, it also results in a lowering of the efficiency of the system.
• the dehumidified air leaving the dehumidifying chamber is used to remove heat from the refrigerant after it leaves the regenerator side. The result is heated dehumidified air.
• a system in which the path of the refrigerant is selectively varied to provide one of the first second or third aspects in which only one or two aspects are available in a given device.
• An aspect of some embodiments of the invention is concerned with a combined dehumidifier/air conditioner is which a relatively low level of integration is provided.
• heat generated by the condenser is used to remove liquid from the desiccant.
• the air conditioner condenser continues to be cooled by outside air. The heated air, which exits the air-conditioner, containing waste heat, is used to remove moisture from the desiccant.
• a heat pump is utilized to transfer energy from relatively cool desiccant to heat the desiccant during regeneration, in addition to the heat supplied from the exhaust of the air conditioning portion of the system.
• the air conditioner does not have to overcool the air to remove moisture and the dehumidifier does not heat the air in order to remove moisture.
• the dehumidifier does not heat the air in order to remove moisture.
• Some embodiments of the invention provide a combined dehumidifier/air-conditioner in which only "fresh", untreated air is subject to dehumidification prior to cooling by the air conditioner.
• a simple method of integration of an air conditioner and dehumidifier is provided.
• the air conditioner and dehumidifier are separate units without conduits for air connecting the units.
• these embodiments provide advantages of utilizing waste heat from the air conditioner to provide regeneration energy for the dehumidifier.
• moisture is transferred from the dehumidifier portion of a system to the regenerator without the necessity of transferring liquid from the regenerator back to the dehumidifier.
• reservoirs in the dehumidifier and regenerator sections are connected with a passageway that allows only limited flow.
• the passageway takes the form of an aperture in a wall common to the two reservoirs.
• the absorption of moisture in the dehumidifying section increases the volume in the dehumidifier reservoir, resulting in the flow, by gravity, of moisture rich (low concentration) desiccant from the dehumidifier reservoir to the regenerator reservoir.
• This flow also carries with it a flow of desiccant ions, which must be returned to the dehumidifier section.
• this is achieved by pumping ion-rich desiccant solution from the regenerator to the dehumidifier section.
• the return flow of ions is achieved, by diffusion of ions, via the aperture, from the high concentration regenerator reservoir to the low concentration reservoir.
• the inventors have found that, surprisingly, diffusion is sufficient to maintain a required concentration of ions in the dehumidifier section and that the return flow is not associated with an undesirable heat transfer associated with the transfer of (hot) moisture together with the ions, as in the prior art.
• no pumps are used to transfer desiccant between the reservoirs or between the dehumidifier section and the regenerator, in either direction.
• a dehumidifier in which no pumping of desiccant liquid takes place between the two sides of the dehumidifier.
• apparatus for conditioning air comprising: a quantity of liquid desiccant; a dehumidifier section in which air to be conditioned is brought into contact with a first portion of the liquid desiccant; a regenerator section in which outside air is brought into contact with a second portion of the liquid desiccant; and a refrigeration system having a first heat exchanger associated with the first portion of liquid desiccant and a second heat exchanger associated with the second portion of liquid desiccant and a third heat exchanger that does not contact the liquid desiccant.
• the third heat exchanger is situated at an exit from the dehumidifier section of the conditioned air, such that the conditioned air is heated thereby.
• the refrigeration system is operative to transfer heat from the first heat exchanger to the second heat exchanger.
• the apparatus includes a pump for pumping liquid desiccant between the dehumidifier and the regenerator.
• apparatus for conditioning air comprising: a quantity of liquid desiccant; a first air-desiccant contact volume in which air to be conditioned is brought into contact with a first portion of the liquid desiccant; a second air-desiccant contact volume in which outside air is brought into contact with a second portion of the liquid desiccant; at least one liquid desiccant conduit providing for at least transfer of water between said first and second volumes; and a refrigeration system comprising: having a first heat exchanger associated with the first portion of liquid desiccant; a second heat exchanger associated with the second portion of liquid desiccant; a third heat exchanger situated for heat exchange with said conditioned air after it leaves the first air-desiccant contact volume; and refrig
• the refrigerant conduits have a controllable configuration enabling a plurality of flow configurations, each said configuration providing a different path of refrigerant between the elements of the refrigerant system.
• configuration is selectable by valves.
• the plurality of configurations includes a first configuration in which heat is transferred from the first heat exchanger to the second and third heat exchangers, thereby to heat the conditioned air.
• the second heat exchanger and/or the third heat exchanger are at a higher temperature than the refrigerant in the first heat exchanger.
• the plurality of configurations includes a second configuration in which heat is transferred from the first heat exchanger to the second and fourth heat exchangers.
• the refrigerant in the second heat exchanger and/or the fourth heat exchanger are at a higher temperature than the refrigerant in the first heat exchanger.
• no refrigerant flows in the third heat exchanger.
• the plurality of configurations includes a third configuration in which heat is transferred from the second heat exchanger to the third heat exchanger.
• the temperature of refrigerant in the third heat exchanger is higher than the temperature of refrigerant in the second heat exchanger.
• heat is transferred from the second heat exchanger to the fourth heat exchanger.
• the temperature of refrigerant in the fourth heat exchanger is higher than the temperature of refrigerant in the second heat exchanger.
• Fig. 1 shows cooling and dehumidification curves for conventional air conditioning and dehumidification systems
• Fig. 2 schematically shows a dehumidifier unit, usable in a combined dehumidifying/air-conditioning system, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
• Fig. 3A schematically shows a second dehumidifier unit, usable in a combined dehumidifying/air conditioning system, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, in which air entering the regenerator cools refrigerant leaving the regenerator;
• Fig. 3B schematically shows a third dehumidifier unit, usable in a combined dehumidifying/air conditioning system, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, in which air leaving the dehumidifier cools refrigerant leaving the regenerator;
• Fig. 4A schematically shows a dehumidifier unit system, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the invention, in which air entering the regenerator cools refrigerant leaving the regenerator;
• Fig. 4B schematically shows a dehumidifier unit system, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, in which air leaving the dehumidifier cools refrigerant leaving the regenerator;
• Fig. 4C schematically shows a dehumidifier unit system, in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the invention, switchable between a first state in which air leaving the dehumidifier cools refrigerant leaving the regenerator and a second state in which air entering the regenerator cools refrigerant leaving the regenerator;
• Fig. 5A shows a first switching configuration of a dehumidifier according to an embodiment of the invention, in which cooled, dehumidified air is produced;
• Fig. 5B shows a second switching configuration in which warm dehumidified air is produced
• Fig. 5C shows a third switching configuration in which warm humidified air is produced
• Fig. 6 shows the dehumidification curves for some of the systems described with respect to Figs. 2-4, together with those for conventional air conditioning and dehumidification systems;
• Fig. 7 shows a structure useful for automatically adjusting the amount of dehumidification;
• Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a combined dehumidifier/air-conditioner system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In some embodiments of the invention, the dehumidifiers described in applicants' PCT
• a dehumidifying system 10 as described in the above referenced applications, comprises, as its two main sections a dehumidifying chamber 12 and a regenerator unit 32. Moist air enters dehumidifying chamber 12 via a moist air inlet 14 and dried air exits chamber 12 via a dry air outlet 16.
• desiccant 28 is pumped by a pump 20 from a desiccant reservoir 30 via a pipe 13 to a series of nozzles 22. These nozzles shower a fine spray of the desiccant into the interior of chamber 12, which is filled, for example, with a cellulose sponge material 24 such as is generally used in the art for such purposes.
• the desiccant is simply dripped on the sponge material. The desiccant slowly percolates downward through the sponge material into reservoir 30.
• Moist air entering the chamber via inlet 14 contacts the desiccant droplets. Since the desiccant is hygroscopic, it absorbs water vapor from the moist air and drier air is expelled through outlet 16.
• Reservoir 30 is generally located on the bottom of chamber 12 so that the desiccant from sponge 24 falls directly into the reservoir.
• a pump 35 and associated motor 37 pump desiccant from an extension of reservoir 30 into pipe 13.
• a divider 38 receives desiccant from pipe 13 and sends part of the desiccant to nozzles 22 and part to regenerator unit 32.
• a valve or constriction 39 (preferably a controllable valve or constriction) may be provided to control the proportion of the desiccant which is fed to regenerator 32. If a controllable valve or constriction is used, the amount of desiccant is optimally controlled in response to the amount of moisture in the desiccant.
• Chamber 34 includes a heat exchanger 36 which heats the desiccant to drive off part of the water vapor it has absorbed, thus regenerating it.
• heat is transferred from the regenerated liquid desiccant to the desiccant entering or in the regenerator by bringing the two desiccant streams into thermal (but not physical) contact in a thermal transfer station (not shown).
• a heat pump may be used to transfer additional energy from the cooler desiccant leaving the regenerator to the hotter desiccant entering the regenerator, such that the desiccant returning to the reservoir is actually cooler than the desiccant which enters chamber 58.
• a heat pump system 45 which extracts heat from the desiccant in reservoir 30 to provide energy to heat exchanger 36.
• this heat pump includes (in addition to exchanger 36 which is the condenser of the system) a second heat exchanger 46 in reservoir 30, which is the evaporator of the system, and an expansion valve 56.
• This transfer of energy results in a reduced temperature of the desiccant which contacts the air being dried thus reducing the temperature of the dried air.
• this transfer of energy reduces the overall requirement of energy for operating the regenerator, generally by up to a factor of 3. Since the energy utilized by the regeneration process is the major energy requirement for the system, this reduction in energy usage can have a major effect on the overall efficiency of the system.
• this method of heating of the desiccant in the regenerator may be supplemented by direct heating, utilizing a heating coil or waste heat from an associated air-conditioner. It should be understood that the proportion of water vapor in the desiccant in reservoir
• the moisture level 30 and in the regenerated desiccant must generally be within certain limits, which limits depend on the particular desiccant used.
• a lower limit on the required moisture level is that needed to dissolve the desiccant such that the desiccant is in solution and does not crystallize.
• the moisture level is too high, the desiccant becomes inefficient in removing moisture from the air which enters chamber 12.
• This monitoring function is generally performed by measurement of the volume of desiccant, which increases with increasing moisture.
• a method of measuring the volume of liquid in the reservoir is by measurement of the pressure in an inverted vessel 50 which has its opening placed in the liquid in the reservoir.
• a tube 52 leads from vessel 50 to a pressure gauge 54.
• the pressure measured by gauge 52 increases. Since the volume of desiccant in the dehumidifier chamber and in the regenerator is fairly constant, this gives a good indication of the amount of desiccant and thus of the amount of moisture entrained in the desiccant.
• the heat in chamber 34 is turned on.
• the heater when the moisture level falls below some other, lower preset value, the heater is turned off.
• Other factors which may influence the cut-in and cut-out points of the regeneration process are the temperature of the dry air, the regeneration efficiency and the heat pump efficiency. In some embodiments of the invention, it may be advisable to provide some direct heating of desiccant in the regeneration process.
• heat pumps or other heat transfer means are provided to transfer heat from the dried air exiting chamber 12 and or from the heated moist air leaving regenerator chamber 34, to heat the desiccant on its way to or in chamber 34. If heat pumps are used, the source of the heat may be at a temperature lower than the desiccant to which it is transferred. It should be understood that cooling of the desiccant in the reservoir can result in dried air leaving the dehumidifier which has the same, or optionally a lower temperature than the moist air entering the dehumidifier, even prior to any additional optional cooling of the dry air.
• This feature is especially useful where the dehumidifier is used in hot climates in which the ambient temperature is already high.
• one of the problems with dehumidifier systems is the problem of determining the amount of water in the desiccant solution so that the dehumidifier solution water content may be kept in a proper range.
• Dehumidifier 100 is similar to dehumidifier 10 of Fig. 2, with several significant differences.
• the system does not require any measurement of water content and thus does not have a volumetric measure for the desiccant. However, such a measurement may be provided as a safety measure if the solution becomes too concentrated.
• pipes 30C are designed so that its major effect is to generate a common level of the solution in portions 30A and 30B.
• the two reservoir portions have different temperatures. This necessarily results in different concentrations of desiccant.
• a temperature differential of 5°C or more is maintained, optionally, 10°C or more or 15°C or even more.
• reservoir portion 30A is at a temperature of 30°C or more and reservoir portion 30B is at a temperature of 15°C or less.
• regenerator unit 32 a different construction for regenerator unit 32 is shown, which is similar to that of the dehumidifier section. Furthermore, in Fig. 3 A, neither section has a cellulose sponge material. Such material may be added to the embodiment of Fig. 3 A or it may be omitted from the embodiment of Fig. 2 and replaced by the spray mechanism of Fig. 3 A. In some embodiments of the invention, applicable to either Figs. 2 or 3A, spray nozzles are not used. Rather, the spray nozzles are replaced by a dripper system from which liquid is dripped on the cellulose sponge to continuously wet the sponge. Such systems are shown, for example in the above referenced PCT/IL98/00552.
• Cooling the refrigerant and/or compressor in this manner results in the removal of additional air from the system, which allows the refrigerant system to operate at a lower temperature. Operating the system without such additional cooling, may result in the refrigerant being too hot in the steady state to operate properly.
• the resultant heating of the air entering the regenerator increases the ability of the air to remove moisture from the desiccant.
• Heat pump 45 is set to transfer a fixed amount of heat. In an embodiment of the invention, the humidity set point is determined by controlling the amount of heat transferred between the two streams.
• the regenerator is set up, such that at this same temperature and humidity, it removes the same amount of water from the desiccant solution. This may require an input of heat (additionally to the heat available from the heat pump). Further assume that the air entering the dehumidifier chamber has a lower humidity, for example 80%. For this humidity, less liquid is removed (since the efficiency of water removal depends on the humidity) and thus, the temperature of the desiccant solution leaving the dehumidifier chamber also drops. However, since less water enters the desiccant solution from the dehumidifier chamber, the amount of water removed from the solution in the regenerator also drops. This results in a new balance with less water removed and the desiccant solution at a lower temperature.
• a lower temperature desiccant results in cooler air.
• the temperature of the exiting air is also reduced.
• the relative humidity remains substantially the same. It should be understood that a reduction of input air temperature has substantially the same effect.
• the system is self regulating, with the dehumidifying action cutting off at some humidity level. The humidity level at which this takes place will depend on the capacity of the solution sprayed from nozzles 22 to absorb moisture and the ability of the solution and on the capacity of the solution sprayed from nozzles 22' to release moisture.
• the dehumidifier becomes less able to remove moisture from it.
• the solution is cooled on each transit through the conduit 102 and the percentage of desiccant in the solution in 30B reaches some level.
• the solution in 30A becomes more concentrated and less moisture is removed from it (all that happens is that it gets heated).
• both removal and absorption of moisture by the solution stop since the respective solutions entering the dehumidifier and regenerator chambers are in stability with the air to which or from which moisture is normally transferred.
• this humidity point can be adjusted by changing the amount of heat transferred between the solutions in conduits 102 and 104. If greater heat is transferred, the desiccant in the dehumidifying chamber is cooler and the desiccant in the regeneration chamber is hotter. This improves the moisture transfer ability of both the dehumidifying chamber and the regenerator and the humidity balance point is lowered. For less heat pumped from the dehumidifier side to the regenerator side, a higher humidity will result. In addition, the set-point will depend somewhat on the relative humidity of the air entering the regenerator.
• the device of Fig. 3B can be used.
• the device of Fig. 3B is the same as the device of Fig. 3 A, except that heat exchanger 136 at the input of the regenerator is moved to the output of the dehumidifier and denoted 136'.
• the device shown in Fig. 3B produces dehumidified, warmed air.
• Figs. 4A and 4B show another dehumidifier 200, in which no pumping of desiccant is required. Except as described below, it is generally similar to the dehumidifiers of Fig. 3 A and 3B, except that there is no pumping of the desiccant liquid between the sumps 30A and 30B. (Figs. 4A and 4B do have a somewhat different layout from those of Figs. 3 A and 3B.) The inventors have surprisingly found that an appropriately shaped and sized aperture, such as aperture 202 connecting the two sumps provides a suitable way to provide required transfer between the two sumps. In general, in a liquid desiccant system such as that of Figs.
• sump 30B (the sump of dehumidifying chamber 12) accumulates additional moisture over sump 30A (the sump of regenerator 32). This additional moisture must be transferred to sump 30A or directly to the regenerator in order to remove the moisture from the desiccant.
• concentration of desiccant in sump 30B is much lower than that in sump 30A, and the proportion of desiccant in sump 30A must be continually increased so that the efficiency and drying capacity of regeneration is kept high.
• the apparatus of Figs. 4A and 4B solves this problem by transferring the desiccants and salts by diffusion between the liquids in the sumps, rather than by pumping desiccant solution between the sumps.
• desiccant salt ions are transferred from the regenerator sump to the pumps, and only moisture, on a net basis is transferred from the dehumidifier sump to the regenerator sump.
• aperture 202 is provided between sumps 30A and 30B.
• the size and positioning of this aperture is chosen to provide transfer of ions of water and desiccant salt between the sumps without an undesirable amount of thermal transfer, especially from the hotter to the cooler reservoir.
• the size of the aperture may be increased, such that at full dehumidification, the flow of heat between the sumps is at an acceptable level.
• Undesirable heat flow may be determined by measuring the temperature near the hole and comparing it to the temperature in the bulk solution in the sump.
• Figs. 4A and 4B may provide temperature differentials of the same order (or even greater) than those of Fig. 3 A and 3B.
• the aperture is rectangular, with rounded corners having a width of 1-3 cm (preferably about 2 cm) and a height of 1-10 cm, depending on the capacity of the system.
• the hole is placed at the bottom of the partition between the reservoirs, so as to take advantage of the higher salt concentration in the regenerator reservoir at the bottom of the reservoir. The additional height allows the system to operate even under extreme conditions when some crystallization (which may block the aperture) occurs at the bottom of the reservoir.
• the aperture is defined by a series of heightwise distributed holes.
• the aperture is defined by a slit at the bottom and spaced holes above.
• Figs. 4A and 4B Some points about the dehumidifier of Figs. 4A and 4B should be noted. There is a net flow of moisture, via aperture 202 from reservoir 30B to reservoir 30A when the system has reached a steady state and the air conditions are constant. In fact, since the dehumidifier section is continuously adding moisture to the desiccant and the regenerator is continuously removing moisture from it, this is to be expected. During operation, the concentration of ions in reservoir 30A is generally higher than that in reservoir 3 OB. This will be true, because the desiccant in 30A is continuously being concentrated and that in 30B is continuously be diluted. This difference in concentration causes a diffusive flow of ions from reservoir 30A to reservoir 30B, via aperture 202.
• the concentration is 25% by weight of salt.
• the salt used is lithium chloride, since this is a stable salt with relatively high desiccating capacity. Lithium bromide is an even better desiccant, but is less stable; it too can be used.
• Other usable salts include magnesium chloride, calcium chloride and sodium chloride.
• Other liquid desiccants as known in the art may also be used.

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• 2001
  • 2001-02-21 IL IL14157901A patent/IL141579A0/xx active IP Right Grant
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