Experimental study and performance analysis on a new dehumidifier with outside evaporative cooling

In this paper, experimental study of a new dehumidifier is carried out and the effects of inlet parameters of air, water and solution on the performance of the dehumidifier are discussed. The experimental results indicate that when the solution is 36 °C, the performance of the dehumidifier with outside evaporative cooling increased by 25% compared to the dehumidifier without outside evaporative cooling. The moisture removal rate is increased by a factor of 2.3 when the dehumidified air flow rate increases from 0.071 to 0.370 kg/s. Based on the experimental values, the fitting equations of enthalpy and moisture effectiveness are separately developed. The average absolute difference (AAD) of the theoretical and experimental values is less than 8% for both moisture and enthalpy effectiveness. •An experimental setup of a novel outside evaporative cooling liquid desiccant dehumidifier (OECD) was constructed.•The OECD was increased by 25% compared to NECD cooling at the solution temperature of 36 °C.•The fitting equations of the moisture and enthalpy effectiveness are developed.