WO2018182547A1

WO2018182547A1 - Dehumidification devices and method

Info

Publication number: WO2018182547A1
Application number: PCT/TR2017/050125
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yıldırım KOCABALKANLI; Huriye OĞUZ; Anna İLEM; Cansel Elif ASLAN; Okay TARAKÇI; Özdem ÖZEL
Original assignee: Eneko Havalandirma Ve Isi Ekonomi̇si̇ Si̇stem Teknoloji̇leri̇ Maki̇ne San. Ve Ti̇c. A.Ş.
Priority date: 2017-03-29
Filing date: 2017-03-29
Publication date: 2018-10-04
Also published as: EP3601892A1

Abstract

The invention is a dehumidifier device for dehumidifying the air found in indoor spaces, comprising an inlet damper (1) through which the humid air coming from the indoor space enters, an evaporator (2) by which the air is cooled, condensed, and dehumidified, a heat recovery exchanger (4) by which the high temperature is eliminated, and the heat received from the condenser (3) is transferred to the cold air coming from the evaporator, and a bypass damper (5), and it is characterized in that; it comprises the operation steps of: the condensed and dehumidified cooled air coming out of the evaporator (2) and the heated air coming out of the condenser (3) enter the heat recovery exchanger (4) through different channels without contacting each other at all, the temperature of the condensed and dehumidified air cooled in the evaporator (2) is measured at the outlet of the heat recovery exchanger (4), if the measured temperature value is below the set value, then the bypass outlet line (5.1) found on the bypass damper (5) is proportionally closed, if the measured temperature value is above the set value, then the bypass outlet line (5.1) found on the bypass damper (5) is proportionally opened.

Description

DEHUMIDIFICATION DEVICES AND METHOD

The Related Art The invention relates to dehumidification devices for reducing the moisture content in the air of indoor living spaces and keeping the same at the required level.

The invention particularly relates to a method developed for making more efficient use of the waste heat discharged from the condenser in the transition process within the dehumidification devices following removal of the air from the spaces to be dehumidified. The Prior Art

Constructions, storages, swimming pools, museums and residences are places that are needed to be dehumidified. Moisture and humidity caused by the water vapour in the air damages the equipment and products in the environment and reduces people's quality of life. Ambient humidity values need to be between 40% and 60%. For this reason, devices called as dehumidification devices carry out with dehumidification operation. The essential point of dehumidification is to condense the water vapour found in the air and then convert it into water. The dehumidification device extracts the water vapour found in the air together with the air and condenses this water vapour within the device. The condensed water turns into water by the effect of the condensation. The dehumidified air is then heated and then returned to the medium as dry air. The dehumidifier is a machine that operates with a refrigeration cycle. It is based on the physics principle that the air in contact with a cooled surface leaves the water in it onto this surface that is cooler than itself. According to the operating principle of the device; the humid air retracted from the medium passes through cooled serpentines in the dehumidifier. These serpentines collect and condense a portion of the humidity that the air contains. The condensed water accumulates on the evaporator surface. The amount of water contained in the air passing through the evaporator has been reduced, but the temperature has also decreased. In this case, the relative humidity is still high. The temperature is increased by passing the air through the condenser. Thus, the air containing less water now reaches room temperature. In another expression; in the prior art dehumidification devices, when it is desired to pass the air that is dehumidified and cooled in the evaporator through the condenser again and heat the same up to indoor environment conditions by making use of the condenser waste heat; the pool site indoor temperature is required to be heated to a temperature value that is higher than the desired temperature, since the condenser capacity is required to be higher than the evaporator capacity due to the effect of the compressor found in between. On each repetition of this loop, the ambient temperature inadvertently rises and causes a problem. As a second design method for the solution of this problem experienced in the prior art dehumidifiers, the condenser is made in two parts to provide capacity equivalence, but this technique technically increases the risk of failure and increases the cost.

As another alternative solution to the prior art dehumidifiers, condenser heating is eliminated and replaced with a hot water heater instead, which causes additional energy consumption. In the case of different types and models of heat recovery exchanger applications in the prior art dehumidifier devices, the pool site indoor temperature has to be heated to a higher value than the desired temperature value, since the condenser is again placed after the evaporator and the condenser capacity has to be higher than the evaporator capacity.

It is also not a solution to reduce the number of revolutions of the compressor in the prior art dehumidification devices by using inverter compressor, because when this is done, the dehumidification capacity is also reduced, whereas the desired thing is to utilize the waste heat in the condenser without reducing the dehumidification capacity.

Failure to precisely control the waste heat generated in the condenser prevents precise control of the temperature of the air blown into the indoor environment in the prior art dehumidifiers, and causes the blowing temperature to be higher than desired.

In the patent application No. WO 2013172789 related to the devices, the characteristics and disadvantages of which are described above, the dehumidifier device has a cooler connected thereto. The cooler is designed to cool the dryer. Thus, the dryer is cooled by the cooler before entering the dehumidifier. The regenerator has a heater connected up to here. The heater is designed to heat the dryer so that the dryer is heated by the heater before entering the regenerator. This application relates to a dehumidification system having a dehumidification device comprising a dryer for dehumidifying the air stream and a regenerator for reforming the dryer.

The application No. TR2015/08004, entitled "Industrial dehumidification system" relates to a dehumidification system comprising a vaporizer with a cooler. The evaporator operates with the air having increasing temperature. Thus, the heat from the air with increasing temperature is transferred to the cooler and the humidity is generated from this part. A compressor operates together with the evaporator and the second heat exchanger such that it would pressurize the cooler passing through the second heat exchanger.

In short, it is very important to heat the air cooled in the evaporator and dehumidified by condensing, in a controlled and low cost manner in terms of keeping the environment at standard humidity rates.

Purpose of the Invention

From the known status of the art, the purpose of the invention is to make use of the condenser waste heat as desired and prevent the blowing temperature from rising excessively by sensitively controlling the temperature of the air blown into the indoor environment while using this waste heat.

Another purpose of the invention is to provide sensitive control of the blowing temperature by establishing a new system with the heat recovery exchanger and proportional by-pass damper mechanism in order to make use of the condenser waste heat capacity as needed by changing the position of the condenser within the dehumidifier device. Another purpose of the invention is to prevent the blowing temperature from rising inadvertently by controlling the condenser waste heat indirectly and proportionally.

Another purpose of the invention is to prevent consumption of unnecessary energy while proportionally adjusting the temperature to be taken from the condenser.

Another purpose of the invention is to prevent the revision made on the process from negatively affecting the post-use maintenance costs and the total time period of use.

Brief Description of the Figures

Figure 1 : is a side view showing the air flow between the evaporator, condenser, and heat recovery exchanger components in the dehumidifier device.

Figure 2A: is a perspective view of the moment when the bypass damper on the heat recovery exchanger of the dehumidifier device is active.

Figure 2B: Is a perspective view of the moment when the bypass damper on the heat recovery exchanger of the dehumidifier device is passive.

Reference Numbers 1 Inlet damper

2 Evaporator

3 Condenser

4 Heat recovery exchanger

5 Bypass damper

5.1. Bypass outlet channel

5.2. Direct outlet channel

6. Medium outlet line

7. Exhaust outlet line Detailed Description of the Invention

In the detailed description of the present invention, a method is described, which is developed for ensuring heating of the cooled dehumidified air coming out of the evaporator (2) in a controlled manner and only to an extent that is needed, by the condenser (3).

As described in the above given sections, it is seen that the air to be passed through the dehumidifier device and given back to the medium is heated more than needed in an uncontrolled manner with the heat taken from the condenser (3), and even though the studies made in the known status of the art for preventing this situation are intended for controlling the heat coming from the condenser (3), ultimately, they make the system more expensive and also have various drawbacks after use such as maintenance problems and the space occupied by the system.

While the temperature values of the air to be given to the medium can be easily set in the novel dehumidifier device design, also it has approximately the same size with the prior art devices and does not require additional equipment to be added outside of the device. Therefore, it does not bring an additional burden on investment and maintenance costs after installation.

The dehumidifier device consists of two separate air flow sections. As can be seen in the figures, the heat recovery exchanger (4) is positioned so that the air coming from two separate air flow sections will pass through thereof. That is, while the evaporator (2) is found in the first air flow line, the condenser (3) is found in the second air flow line. The most significant characteristic of the new design dehumidifier device is that the air coming from the evaporator (2) line does not come into contact with the air coming from the condenser (3) line at all. A heat recovery exchanger (4) is found between the air flow sections. Air inlet dampers (1) are provided on the air inlet sides of each air flow section, which are controlled by fresh air inlet and indoor air inlet ports and proportional damper motors. In this way, there are a total of four air inlet ports and air inlet dampers (1) on the air inlet side of the dehumidifier device. By means of these dampers located on the air inlet side and controlled by proportional damper motors, the rates of fresh air and indoor suction air to be passed through the evaporator (2) and the condenser (3) are precisely controlled.

The heat recovery exchanger (4) has two air inlet sections. From one of these, the air cooled by the evaporator (2) and dehumidified by condensing passes, while the air heated by the condenser (3) passes through the other air inlet section. When the figures are examined carefully, it can be seen that the air entering the heat recovery exchanger (4) from the evaporator (2) side is directly sent to the target medium from the medium outlet line (6) without encountering any obstacle, the air entering the heat recovery exchanger (4) from the condenser (3) line is discharged from the exhaust outlet line after passing through a bypass damper (5) formed of sections called as a bypass outlet channel (5.1) and a direct outlet channel (5.2) controlled by a proportional damper motor and having a winged structure that operates in opposite direction to each other.

In reaching the purposes disclosed in the section titled purpose of the invention, the bypass outlet channel (5.1) and the direct outlet channel (5.2) are of great importance. Heat is transferred from the air heated in the condenser (3) through the heat recovery exchanger (4), onto the air cooled in the evaporator (2) and dehumidified by condensing. The temperature of the air cooled by the evaporator (2) and dehumidified by condensing is measured by a sensitive temperature gauge located at the exit of the heat recovery exchanger (4) and the proportional damper motor found at the other side of the heat recovery exchanger (4) and driving the by-pass damper (5), which adjusts the passage of the air heated in the condenser (3) through the heat recovery exchanger (4), in a precise manner with the temperature information obtained from this temperature gauge, and proportional opening and closing thereof can be ensured.

If the temperature of the condensed and dehumidified air cooled in the evaporator (2) at the outlet of the heat recovery exchanger (4) is below the preferred value, then the bypass outlet channel (5.1) closes at a certain level and the direct outlet channel (5.2) opens. The opening of the direct outlet duct (5.2) means that a larger part of the heated air in the condenser (3) is to be passed through the heat recovery exchanger (4). Thus, more heat is to be transferred between the cooled and dehumidified air in the evaporator (2) and the heated air from the condenser (3), and the temperature of the air to be supplied to the medium is brought to the desired temperature value. If the temperature of the condensed and dehumidified air cooled in the evaporator (2) at the outlet of the heat recovery exchanger (4) is above the preferred value, then the bypass outlet channel (5.1) opens at a certain level and the direct outlet channel (5.2) closes. The meaning of closing of the direct outlet channel (5.2) and opening of the bypass outlet channel (5.1) is that the air heated in the condenser (3) will have less heat transfer with the air leaving the evaporator (2). Thus, the cooled and dehumidified air in the evaporator (2) is to be heated less and brought to the preferred temperature value.

The air cooled in the evaporator (2) and dehumidified by condensing is thus brought to the exactly desired and set temperature value, and blown to the medium through the medium outlet line (6). On the other side, the condenser (3) air that is heated in the condenser (3) and the needed amount of the waste heat of which is already transferred, is discharged to the external environment through the exhaust outlet line (7). In this way, the waste heat from the condenser (3) is fully utilized as needed and it is possible to precisely control the humidity and temperature of the air blown into the room.

Claims

1. The invention is a dehumidifier device for dehumidifying the air found in indoor spaces, comprising an inlet damper (1) through which the humid air coming from the indoor space enters, an evaporator (2) by which the air is cooled, condensed, and dehumidified, a heat recovery exchanger (4) by which the high temperature is eliminated, and the heat received from the condenser (3) is transferred to the cold air coming from the evaporator, and a bypass damper (5), and it is characterized in that; it comprises the operation steps of:

• the condensed and dehumidified cooled air coming out of the evaporator (2) and the heated air coming out of the condenser (3) enter the heat recovery exchanger (4) through different channels without contacting each other at all,

• the temperature of the condensed and dehumidified air cooled in the evaporator (2) is measured at the outlet of the heat recovery exchanger (4),

• if the measured temperature value is below the set value, then the bypass outlet line (5.1) found on the bypass damper (5) is proportionally closed,

• if the measured temperature value is above the set value, then the bypass outlet line (5.1) found on the bypass damper (5) is proportionally opened.

2. The invention is a dehumidifier device according to claim 1 , and it is characterized in that; said dehumidifier device consists of two regions where the evaporator (2) and the condenser (3) are positioned separately.