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 As discussed in the Liquid Desiccant
Tutorial, our scavenging-air regenerator uses low-flow liquid-desiccant
technology to achieve very high COPs and eliminate carryover of desiccant
droplets. The core of this regenerator is a liquid-to-gas heat
exchanger. The plates of this heat exchanger are made from a
high-temperature plastic extrusion that is 4.5" wide, 0.12" thick, and has 0.08"
diameter passages running its length.
The regenerator is most efficient when it is used with an air-to-air heat exchanger that preheats the incoming air using the humid exhaust air. Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory measured a COP of 0.73 when the regenerator ran without an air-to-air heat exchanger, and 0.79 it ran with a 50% effective air-to-air heat exchanger. In both tests the regenerator delivered a solution of lithium chloride at 40%. The conference paper presented at the 2006 ASES meeting in Denver discusses the NREL tests in more detail. The scavenging-air regenerator can serve as the second-stage of the high-efficiency gas-fired 1½-effect regenerator. |