An experimental study on planar vacuum membrane dehumidifier equipped with serpentine flow channel plate

The membrane dehumidifiers can be used in air conditioning systems. In this study, an experimental investigation is conducted on the planar vacuum membrane dehumidifier equipped with the four-serpentine flow channel plate. A vacuum membrane dehumidification technique is used to measure the dehumidification performance. The effects of different parameters, such as the temperature and humidity of air, the vacuum pressure, and the air flow rate, on different dehumidification performance indexes are investigated. Four dehumidification performance indexes, including the water collection of the cold trap, the water flux, the pressure drop, and the total pumping power, are investigated. The results show that the water collection capacity and water flux are increased as the inlet air temperature increases. For the air flow rate of 65 l.min−1, the water collection capacity at the inlet air humidity of 90 % is up to 2.51 times of that at the inlet air humidity of 60 %. As compared with the temperature effect, the humidity has less effect on the pressure drop. The decrease in the pressure drop and total pumping power can be observed with increasing the vacuum pressure. For example, at the air flow rate of 65 l.min−1, the pressure drop reduces about 11 % by increasing the vacuum pressure in the range of 0.66 kPa to 2.66 kPa.