Energy and Buildings 51 (2012) 1–5

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Energy and Buildings

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Performance of desiccant dehumidification with hydronic radiant cooling system

in hot humid climates
A.S. Binghooth, Z.A. Zainal ∗
School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Engineering Campus, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Penang, Malaysia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Experimental investigations were carried out to determine the performance of a rotating desiccant wheel
Received 21 December 2011 with chilled ceiling panels for humid climates in Malaysia. Dehumidification capacity was in the range of
Received in revised form 20 January 2012 0.89–2.673 kg/h. Relative humidity reduction to 40% with high dehumidification capacity of 2.673 kg/h
Accepted 29 January 2012
was achieved within 10 min with air flow rate of 243 kg/h. Chilled ceiling surface temperature between
14 and 18 ◦ C was achieved by varying the chilled water inlet temperature from 6 ◦ C to 10 ◦ C at steady
Keywords:
state. Condensation was absent on the chilled ceiling surface panels below 70% relative humidity. Thermal
Desiccant dehumidifier
comfort room temperature for this investigation was 24–24.5 ◦ C for chilled ceiling height of 2 m.
Chilled ceiling panels
Hydronic © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Thermal comfort
Relative humidity

1. Introduction exchanger would enhance the performance of the air conditioning

Humidity is indeed a problem to be addressed in all air con-
ditioning cases. Desiccants are materials which have an ability
to absorb and/or adsorb water vapor from the surroundings. The
common types of desiccants used in dehumidifier are silica gel
and calcium chloride. The most common solid desiccant is silica
gel for removing moisture in an enclosed area. Desiccants have
been used to improve indoor air quality and reduce energy con-
sumption. In attaining an acceptable thermal comfort, controlling
indoor air quality, temperature, relative humidity and ventilation
are essential. The humidity of an air-condition can be reduced
by removing the moisture via desiccant dehumidification [1,2].
Desiccant dehumidifiers normally comprise of a singular desic-
cant, however compound desiccant have also been used [3–5]. Hot
humid climates in the tropics have relative humidity in the range
of about 70–80% and require significant refrigeration capacity to
reduce the temperature to the dew point to remove the moisture in
the air. Using desiccant dehumidification in these climatic locations
will reduce the electrical power consumption.
In general the advantageous of employing desiccant have
encouraged many researches to extend their investigations exper-
imentally and numerically on the performance of the desiccant
and improving indoor air quality [6,7]. More advance dehumid-
ification system integrated with a membrane-based total heat
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 4 5937788; fax: +60 4 5941025.
E-mail address: mezainal@yahoo.com (Z.A. Zainal).
system [8].
Adequate amount of fresh air into an air-conditioned space
depends on the ventilation system in particular the location and
either natural or forced convection [9,10]. High fresh air compo-
sition is required for example in hospitals where contaminated
air is removed and also to replenish oxygen supply. However this
requires a much higher refrigeration capacity to cool the higher
amount of incoming hot and humid air especially for conventional
air-conditional system that uses a cooling coil with an air blower.
A different air conditioning system has to be considered with high
fresh air composition and one of the candidates is hydronic radi-
ant cooling [11]. Hydronic radiant cooling (HRC) system refers
to the use of chilled water as a refrigerant medium via cooper
tubes embedded into aluminum panels. Since its introduction in
the European countries, HRC has attracted a lot of attention with
displacement ventilation systems [12]. Behaviors of indoor humid-
ity and the effect on condensation is an important consideration
in hydronic chilled ceiling air conditioning [13]. Integrating chilled
ceiling with dehumidified ventilated air, presents many advanta-
geous related to thermal comfort, absence of condensation and
energy saving [14–16]. In the desiccant dehumidifier, incoming
humid air passes through a rotating wheel of desiccant. When the
desiccant wheel is saturated with moisture, the desiccant wheel
must be reactivated for continuous operating with heat energy sup-
plied via electrical heater. Therefore to determine the required time
for the desiccant to be saturated, it is necessary to control relative
humidity and reduce energy consumption. Undesirable conden-
sation on chilled ceiling panels’ surfaces normally occurs in hot

0378-7788/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2012.01.031
2 A.S. Binghooth, Z.A. Zainal / Energy and Buildings 51 (2012) 1–5

Dia hose

150
∅V

0
x

128
U1
Outlet connection

98
U

225
T1

170
T

145
S1
Reactivation duct connection (mm)

182
S

218
Fig. 2.1. Main process of the dehumidifier.

300
Inlet connection

Q
humid climates like Malaysia and can be prevented by controlling
the chilled ceiling surface temperature and relative humidity of

85
P
the incoming air or ventilated air. Investigation on controlling the
desiccant operation time at various air flow rates to reduce power

142
consumption whilst maintaining the RH and the dehumidification

O
capacity is proposed and has never been investigated. There is no

0
study yet on the appropriate position of the chilled ceiling panel
height with respect to the chilled ceiling temperature and relative

128
Outlet connection (mm)

L1
humidity.

98
L
2. Methodology

225
K1
Bry-Air compact dehumidifier Fluted Flat Bed (model-FFB-600)
with high performance metal silicate fluted and desiccant syn-

170
K
thesized rotor was used in the present study. Fig. 2.1 shows the
main processes of the desiccant dehumidifier, while the desic-

160
J1
cant specification is shown in Table 1. Hydronic radiant cooling
system consists of three main components: chilled ceiling panel,
JJ

0
water circulation system and environmental chamber. Chilled
ceiling panel is made from aluminum sheet and has a size of
226

1.70 m × 0.5 m × 0.02 m. It removes heat gain inside the chamber.

J

Chilled water from a chiller passes through copper tubes of 0.01 m

240

diameter embedded into the panel as shown in Fig. 2.2. There are
I

12 chilled ceiling panels installed below the ceiling of the envi-

264

ronmental chamber. The environmental chamber wall thickness

H
Process duct connection (mm)

is 100 mm constructed with demountable clip-lock type insulated

275

panels. The insulated panels are made of galvanized steel sheets

G

laminated with insulation core of polyurethane with dimension

of 4.25 m × 3.75 m × 3 m. An inlet into the chamber is located at
300
Inlet connection

the bottom right and exit at the left top directly opposite the air
inlet. These air vents are of the same diameter of 11 cm. Fig. 2.3
135
Specification of compact dehumidifier FFB-600.

shows the geometry of the chamber that can accommodate four

occupants. The room temperature measurement (TR ) is taken 1 m
195

above the floor. The performance of the desiccant dehumidification

D

494
C

Copper tube 1.7m

Unit dimension

CC
630
data (mm)

Water inlet
886
A
0.5 m

Water outlet
FFB-600
Model
Table 1

Fig. 2.2. Schematic of chilled ceiling panels with copper tubes.

 A.S. Binghooth, Z.A. Zainal / Energy and Buildings 51 (2012) 1–5 3

65% 50 C 140C 170C

60%

Relative humidity (%)

55%

50%

45%

40%

35%

30%
70 81 92 103 114 125 136 147 158 169 180 191 202 213 224 235 246
Mass flow rate (kg/h)

Fig. 3.1. Minimum relative humidity.

100 50C 140C 170C

Fig. 2.3. Model geometry in Gambit software of environmental chamber.

90
was evaluated by determining the minimum relative humidity,
the saturation time for dehumidification and the dehumidification 80
capacity. Two experiments were conducted on the desiccant TIME (min)
dehumidifier. The first experiment was conducted by switching 70
off the electrical heater then running the desiccant with different
air flow rates of 81, 162 and 243 L h−1 as soon as the desiccant 60
reaches its active temperatures. The dehumidification capacity
was determined by using the following equation. 50

Dc = ṁair × (win − wout ) (1)

where ṁair is the mass flow rate of air (kg/s) and (win − wout ) is the
difference in the humidity ratio (g water/g dry air).
The relative humidity was measured at the air inlet and outlet
by a relative humidity meter (model BSU102). Psychometric probe
sensor was connected to a data acquisition (model BABUC/A). The
relative humidity of the inlet air process was 86%. Whilst in the
reactivation sector, the second experiment was done by running
the desiccant for 60 min with and without electrical heater to con-
trol the relative humidity. The desiccant was run with electrical
heater and air flow rates of 81, 162, 243 L h−1 for about 30, 20,
15 min respectively to maintain minimum relative, then the elec-
trical heater thereafter switched off for the next 30, 40 and 45 min
respectively.
Chilled ceiling chamber was subjected to three experiments.
The first experiment was carried out by measuring the chilled
water inlet temperature (TC.W.I. ), chilled water outlet temperature
(TC.W.O. ), chilled ceiling temperature (TCC ), and room temperature
(TR ) at steady state. The second experiment was carried out by vary-
ing the height of chilled ceiling panels (HCC ) of 2, 2.5 and 3 m and the
40
30
70 81 92 103 114 125 136 147 158 169 180 191 202 213 224 235 246
Mass air flow rate (kg/h)
Fig. 3.2. Saturation time for desiccant dehumidifier.
dehumidifier with varying air mass flow rates at different desiccant
active temperatures. The desiccant is able to reduce the relative
humidity to 40%, 45% and 50% with respect to the air flow rates.
Fig. 3.3 shows the dehumidification capacity of the desiccant wheel
with varying air mass flow rates of air. The dehumidification capac-
ity is almost linearly proportional with air flow rates since mass
flow rate is always a dominant factor. The maximum dehumidifi-
cation capacity was 2.673 kg/h at air mass flow rate of 243 L h−1 .
3
Dehumidification capacity(kg/h)

chilled ceiling temperature TCC of 14–18 ◦ C. The third experiment

2.5
was carried out by varying the relative humidity in the desiccant
dehumidifier whilst observing condensation on the chilled panel’s 2
surfaces. The dew point temperature of occupied zone was mea-
sured using Data acquisition instrument (BABUC version 5.07 LSI). 1.5

3. Result and discussion 1

0.5
3.1. Desiccant dehumidifier
0
Performances of the desiccant dehumidifier are its ability to 51 81 111 141 171 201 231 261
reduce relative humidity within a period of time, the saturation Mass air flow rate(kg/h)
time and its dehumidification capacity. Figs. 3.1 and 3.2 show the
minimum relative humidity and saturation state of the desiccant Fig. 3.3. Dehumidification capacity.
4 A.S. Binghooth, Z.A. Zainal / Energy and Buildings 51 (2012) 1–5

Tcc TR Tc.w.o TR @ 3 m T R @ 2.5 m TR @2m

30 26.5

26
25
25.5

Room temperature (C)

Temperature (C)

20 25

24.5
15
24

10 23.5

23
5
22.5

22
0
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 21.5
Tc.w.i 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Fig. 3.4. The response of TCC , TR and TC.W.O. .

CC surface temperatur (C)

Fig. 3.5. Thermal comfort temperatures condition.

3.2. Hydronic radiant cooling system

Fig. 3.4 shows the response of TCC (3 m above the floor), TR , and CC T 14 C CC T 15 C CC T 16 C CC T 17 C CC T 18 C

TC.W.O. with varying TC.W.I. The minimum temperature of TC.W.I. was 24

6 ◦ C provided via a chiller. The TCC , TR and TC.W.O. are linearly pro-
22
portional with TC.W.I. . TR is high because, TC.W.I. affects the air room

D ew p oint tem p erature (C )

temperature due to heat gain inside the room and the position of 20
the chilled ceiling. It was observed that when TC.W.I. stabilized at
6 ◦ C the difference in TCC , TR and TC.W.O. were 14 ◦ C, 24 ◦ C and 10 ◦ C 18
respectively. Thus, the following equations (2.a)–(2.c) at steady
state condition are derived. 16

TCC = TC.W.I. + 8 (2.a) 14

TR = TC.W.I. + 18 (2.b) 12

CC.W.O. = TC.W.I. + 4 (2.c) 10

40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90%
When TC.W.I. increases by 1 degree above the minimum value of
Relativr humidity (%)
steady state, the TCC , TR and TC.W.O. increased by 1, 0.5 and 1 degree,
respectively. Thus the following equations (3.a)–(3.c) at steady Fig. 3.6. The effect of RH on room dew point temperature within HCC of 3 m.
state condition are derived.

TCC+1 = TC.W.I. + 1 (3.a)

and 80%. Therefore, to operate chilled ceiling for the hydronic radi-
TR+1 = TC.W.I. + 0.5 (3.b) ant cooling in Malaysian climate, it is preferred to control relative
humidity to be about 50% or below with TCC of 14–18 ◦ C regardless
CC.W.O.+1 = TC.W.I. + 1 (3.c)
of chilled ceiling height. However for 60% relative humidity, only
where TCC+1 , TR+1 and CC.W.O.+1 are the difference values related to HCC of 2 m at all TCC is possible.
the TC.W.I. beyond 6 ◦ C steady state. Thermal comfort condition can
be evaluated by determining the comfortable room temperature
(TC ). Optimization was carried out based on lower power consump-
CC 14 C CC 15 C CC 16 C CC 17 C CC 18 C
tion for economical reason. Fig. 3.5 shows the effect of varying TCC at
different HCC on TR . TR of 24–24.5 ◦ C can be provided at different TCC 24
and HCC . Points 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are within the thermal comfortable
Dew point temperature (C)

condition. Minimum HCC of 2 m is the most economical with low 22

power consumption of 2 kWh. However for higher HCC of 3 m the

20
power consumption were 3 and 3.5 kWh at TCC of 14 ◦ C and 15 ◦ C
respectively. Dew point temperature is an important factor to be 18
considered in order to avoid condensation on the chilled panel sur-
face. The effect of increasing relative humidity on the chilled panel 16
surface was observed by the occurrence of condensation on the
panel’s surface. Figs. 3.6–3.8 show the effect of increasing relative 14

humidity on room dew point temperature at different HCC posi-

12
tions of 3, 2.5 and 2 m above the floor with varying the TCC . It was
observed that at 50% RH, condensation does not occur at all HCC and 10
TR due to the room dew point temperatures being lower than the 40% 45% 50% 55% 60% 65% 70% 75% 80% 85% 90%
TCC . Thus the chilled ceiling is safe to operate without condensation Relative humidity (%)
at 50% RH. Condensation occurred significantly at all room tem-
peratures at all HCC when relative humidity ranges between 70% Fig. 3.7. The effect of RH on room dew point temperature within HCC of 2.5 m.
 A.S. Binghooth, Z.A. Zainal / Energy and Buildings 51 (2012) 1–5 5

CC 14 C CC 15 C CC 16 C CC 17 C CC 18 C References
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The authors would like to thank the Universiti Sains Malaysia
Fellowship scheme for the financial support.