First results of a coated heat exchanger for the use in dehumidification and cooling processes

In this work a novel solar driven dehumidification and cooling system is presented. The core components of this combined system are a sorptive dehumidification device based on high performance sorptive coatings and a novel evacuated tube solar air collector providing the driving heat. The essential part of the system is the coated heat exchanger. The chosen adsorbent is attached to the heat exchanger surface by a newly developed coating technique. Besides a brief description of the novel components and the experimental setup, the development of the aluminum heat exchanger, the coating procedure and scale up for geometries comparable to the heat exchanger in the dehumidification setup, as well as a first characterization of a small-sized coated heat exchanger regarding water uptake and dehumidification performance are presented. For estimating an overall system performance, a 2-dimensional thermodynamic model was applied, using the parameters in focus for the development of heat exchanger, coating and demonstration system. Highlights: • A novel developed technology is applied for sorptive coating of heat exchangers. • Upscaling to dimensions of 100 × 100 × 400 mm3 was successful. • A small scale heat exchanger was coated and characterized showing good results. • Evaluation of adsorbents and simulation of system performance were carried out. • SAPO-34 gives best performance for driving temperatures of 100 °C and above