U.S. patent application number 11/989964 was filed with the patent office on 2010-08-26 for dehumidifying cooling device for district heating.
Invention is credited to Sung-Ook Jeong, Chang-Ku Kang, Dae-Young Lee, Hoon Lee, Seok-Mann Yoon.
Application Number | 20100212345 11/989964 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39060870 |
Filed Date | 2010-08-26 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100212345 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Yoon; Seok-Mann ; et
al. |
August 26, 2010 |
Dehumidifying Cooling Device for District Heating
Abstract
A dehumidifying cooling device for district heating is developed
that comprising; a case with partitions divided into interior,
which are a wet channel consisting of an outside air suction,
exhaust and a dry channel for circulated air suction from
conditioning area and air supply; a rotating sensible heat
exchanger to heat exchange outside air of wet channel with the
circulated air in the dry channel; a heating coil between the
sensible heat exchanger and the exhaust for raising the temperature
of outside air; a dehumidifying wheel for adsorbing and removing
moisture contained in the circulated air; the dehumidifying wheel
being regenerated by evaporating the adsorbed moisture thereby
supplying the evaporated moisture into the high-temperature outside
air in the wet channel, and a regenerative-evaporative cooler
installed between the circulated air supply and the sensible heat
exchanger for cooling the circulated air in the dry channel, the
cooled circulated air delivered to the air supply.
Inventors: |
Yoon; Seok-Mann; (Incheon,
KR) ; Lee; Dae-Young; (Seoul, KR) ; Lee;
Hoon; (Gyeonggi-Do, KR) ; Kang; Chang-Ku;
(Seoul, KR) ; Jeong; Sung-Ook; (Seoul,
KR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
GWIPS;Peter T. Kwon
Gwacheon P.O. Box 72, 119 Byeolyang Ro
Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi-Do
427-600
KR
|
Family ID: |
39060870 |
Appl. No.: |
11/989964 |
Filed: |
March 8, 2007 |
PCT Filed: |
March 8, 2007 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/KR2007/001147 |
371 Date: |
February 4, 2008 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/271 ; 165/184;
62/259.4; 62/304; 62/314; 62/317 |
Current CPC
Class: |
Y02E 20/14 20130101;
F24F 5/0042 20130101; F24F 2203/1072 20130101; F24F 2203/1032
20130101; F24F 3/1423 20130101; F24F 2203/1084 20130101; F24F
2203/1056 20130101; F24F 2203/1024 20130101; F24F 2203/104
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/271 ; 62/304;
62/317; 62/314; 165/184; 62/259.4 |
International
Class: |
F24D 10/00 20060101
F24D010/00; F24F 3/14 20060101 F24F003/14; F28D 17/00 20060101
F28D017/00; F25D 17/04 20060101 F25D017/04; F25D 31/00 20060101
F25D031/00; F28F 1/10 20060101 F28F001/10 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 1, 2007 |
KR |
10-2007-0010671 |
Claims
1-9. (canceled)
10. A dehumidifying cooling device for district heating comprising:
a case having a partition to divide the interior of the case into a
wet channel and a dry channel, the wet channel being provided at
one end with an outside air suction hole for introducing outside
air into the wet channel, and at the other end with an exhaust hole
for discharging the outside air, the dry channel being provided at
one end with a circulated air suction hole for introducing
circulated air from a conditioning space into the dry channel and,
at the other end with an air supply hole for supplying cooling air
into the conditioning space; a sensible heat exchanger configured
to rotate about the partition and serving to heat exchange the
outside air, introduced into the wet channel through the outside
air suction hole, with the circulated air introduced into the dry
channel; a heating coil installed in the wet channel between the
back end of the sensible heat exchanger and the exhaust hole and
raising the temperature of the outside air passing through the wet
channel by use of hot water introduced into the heating coil; a
dehumidifying wheel configured to rotate about the partition behind
the heating coil and serving to adsorb and remove moisture
contained in the circulated air within the dry channel, the
dehumidifying wheel being regenerated by evaporating the adsorbed
moisture to thereby supply the evaporated moisture into the
high-temperature outside air in the wet channel; and a
regenerative-evaporative cooler installed in the dry channel
between the circulated air supply hole and the sensible heat
exchanger and cooling the circulated air in the dry channel, which
was dehumidified to high-temperature dry air by the dehumidifying
wheel and subsequently, heat exchanged and cooled by the sensible
heat exchanger, the cooled circulated air being delivered to the
air supply hole of the case.
11. The device according to claim 10, further comprising: a
direct-evaporative cooler installed in the dry channel in front of
the regenerative-evaporative cooler, the direct-evaporative cooler
carrying out a secondary cooling operation of the circulated air
discharged from the regenerative-evaporative cooler.
12. The device according to claim 10, further comprising: a first
filter installed between the outside air suction hole and the
sensible heat exchanger and removing impurities contained in the
outside air; and an exhaust blower installed between the
dehumidifying wheel and the exhaust hole and forcibly discharging
the outside air from the wet channel through the exhaust hole, The
first filter and the exhaust blower are installed in the wet
channel.
13. The device according to claim 10, further comprising: a second
filter installed between the circulated air suction hole and the
dehumidifying wheel and removing impurities from the circulated
air; and an air supply blower installed between the dehumidifying
wheel and the sensible heat exchanger and forcibly discharging the
cooled circulated air from the dry channel through the air supply
hole, The second filter and the air supply blower are installed in
the dry channel.
14. The device according to claim 10, wherein the case further has
a cooler exhaust hole provided at the dry channel for discharging
high-temperature air generated while the regenerative-evaporative
cooler carries out a secondary cooling operation.
15. The device according to claim 14, wherein the amount of the
high-temperature air to be discharged through the cooler exhaust
hole is 30% of the total circulated air.
16. The device according to claim 10, wherein the hot water to be
introduced into the heating coil is delivered from any: a
cogeneration plant, a heating boiler, a micro-turbine, a small gas
engine, a small gas turbine, a gas-fired boiler, or an oil-fired
boiler.
17. The device according to claim 10, wherein the circulated air
suctioned through the circulated air suction hole is mixed with the
outside air by a predetermined mixing ratio.
18. The device according to claim 10, wherein the predetermined
mixing ratio of the circulated air to the outside air is 7:3.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] 1. Field of the Invention
[0002] The present invention relates to a dehumidifying cooling
device for district heating, and more particularly, to a
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating which can perform
an air cooling operation using hot water supplied by large-scale or
small-scale district heating systems and gas-fired or oil-fired
boilers installed in individual households.
[0003] 2. Description of the Related Prior Art
[0004] There is a developing prospect that the recent high oil
prices are not a temporary problem, but will be continuously
maintained and fixed. Therefore, the main energy consuming
countries of the world will increasingly make great efforts to
secure stable energy resources. With the effectuation of the Tokyo
protocol dealing with reduction in the discharge of greenhouse gas
for the sake of preventing global warming, it will be expected that
the international pressure for the limitation of fossil energy use,
the criterion of energy efficiency, etc., will be strengthened.
[0005] According to a published energy report, the amount of energy
consumed in domestic and business fields of Korea in 2003 was
approximately 55 millions TOE, and was 25.2% of the total national
energy consumption. This rate also corresponds to 41.9% on the
basis of electricity use. For the past four years, the energy
consumption of domestic and business fields shows an average annual
rate of increase of 5.3%, whereas the consumption of electricity
shows an average annual rate of increase of 12%. Accordingly, it
will be appreciated that the consumption of electricity
particularly has experienced a rapid increase. Estimating on the
basis of variance in the monthly energy consumption of residential
buildings and sample survey results about non-residential buildings
as the subject of energy management, it is analyzed that 50% of the
energy consumption of residential buildings and 47% of the energy
consumption of business buildings are used for air conditioning. In
conclusion, of the energy consumption of buildings, energy required
for air conditioning occupies 13% of the national total energy
consumption of Korea.
[0006] Accordingly, to guarantee the efficient use of energy and
the continuous development of the energy industry while observing
related international agreements, it is necessary to improve the
efficiency of energy use for air conditioning in domestic and
business fields. From this viewpoint, there is created a so-called
collective-energy industry in which thermal energy and electricity,
generated by facilities concentrated in a specific place for
improving the efficiency of energy in domestic and business fields,
are supplied collectively to multiple users in residential and
business areas. It is reported that the collective-energy industry
uses waste heat created during power generation as a heating source
for space heating and hot water heating, thereby achieving not only
a reduction of energy by approximately 20 to 30% by virtue of
improved efficiency, but also an improvement of air environment by
approximately 30 to 40% by virtue of a reduction of fuel usage and
intensive environmental management. The collective-energy industry
is evaluated as an effective industry, capable of dealing with
related international environmental restrictions including climatic
change conventions, etc. In the affirmative evaluation's debt,
approximately 1.2 million families in Korea shared in the benefits
of district heating in 2003, and in particular, 85% of supplied
energy was generated by combined heat and power generation. Korea
has a plan to expand the propagation of district heating to 2
million families by 2010.
[0007] In combined heat and power generation, called cogeneration,
the generation ratio of electricity to heat is fixed at 3:5.
Therefore, it is important to keep the ratio of electricity to heat
at an appropriate level for maximizing the effect of the
collective-energy industry. In Korea, the above mentioned
generation ratio can be fulfilled in winter, but summer in Korea
produces an increased electrical load for air cooling, and
substantially no heat load. As a result, the operation rate of
dedicatrd heating in summer decreases to less than 10%, and this
causes deterioration in the economic efficiency of cogeneration.
Actually, no generation results were reported between June and
September in 2003.
[0008] To improve the operation rate of collective-energy
generation facilities for efficiently using the effects of the
industry, reducing the demand of heat in summer is necessary, and
in particular, development and propagation of a technology for
supplying cooling energy using distinct heating facilities is
necessary.
[0009] In one example of the above described cooling energy supply
technology, an absorption chiller is installed in a receptor, such
as a large-scale building, etc., such that the chiller performs a
central cooling operation using energy delivered from distinct
heating facilities.
[0010] The absorption chiller is designed to chill water flowing in
a pipe, using heat generated during the evaporation of a
liquid-phase refrigerant, and condense the evaporated gas-phase
refrigerant for reuse.
[0011] However, in spite of various researches and developments for
improving the performance of the absorption chiller, there is a
limit on the improvement of performance due to the low temperature
of a heating source. In addition, the absorption chiller has an
uneconomical high water return temperature because it cannot use
water having a temperature of 80.degree. C. or less, and suffers
from a small differential between the temperature of supplied water
and the temperature of returned water.
[0012] When the absorption chiller is installed in an apartment,
etc. taking up the largest portion of district heating to provide
central cooling, there is a problem in that cold water pipes have
to be additionally installed regardless of hot water supply
pipes.
[0013] The present invention has been made in view of the above
problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating which can provide
an air cooling operation by use of hot water supplied by
large-scale or small-scale district heating systems and gas-fired
or oil-fired boilers installed in individual households, thereby
achieving a reduced device size via the implementation of an
operation within the normal atmospheric pressure, and low
manufacturing costs by virtue of a simplified system
configuration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the
above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating comprising: a
case having a partition dividing the interior of the case into a
wet channel and a dry channel, the wet channel having at one end,
an outside air suction hole for introducing outside air into the
wet channel and at the other end, an exhaust hole for discharging
the outside air, the dry channel having at one end, a circulated
air suction hole for introducing circulated air from a conditioning
space into the dry channel and at the other end; an air supply hole
for supplying cooling air into the conditioning space; a sensible
heat exchanger configured to rotate through the plane of the
partition and to heat exchange the outside air introduced into the
wet channel through the outside air suction hole with the
circulated air introduced into the dry channel; a heating coil
installed in the wet channel between the back end of the sensible
heat exchanger and the exhaust hole, and raising the temperature of
the outside air passing through the wet channel by use of hot water
introduced into the heating coil; a dehumidifying wheel configured
to rotate through the plane of the partition behind the heating
coil, adsorbing and removing moisture contained in the circulated
air within the dry channel, the dehumidifying wheel being
regenerated by evaporation of the adsorbed moisture to into the
high-temperature outside air in the wet channel; and a
regenerative-evaporative cooler installed in the dry channel
between the circulated air supply hole and the sensible heat
exchanger cooling the circulated air in the dry channel, which was
dehumidified to high-temperature dry air by the dehumidifying wheel
and subsequently heat exchanged and cooled by the sensible heat
exchanger, the cooled circulated air being delivered to the air
supply hole of the case.
[0015] Preferably, the device further comprises: a
direct-evaporative cooler installed in the dry channel in front of
the regenerative-evaporative cooler, the direct-evaporative cooler
carrying out a secondary cooling operation of the circulated air
discharged from the regenerative-evaporative cooler.
[0016] Preferably, the device further comprises: a first filter
installed between the outside air suction hole and the sensible
heat exchanger and removing impurities contained in the outside
air; and an exhaust blower installed between the dehumidifying
wheel and the exhaust hole and forcibly discharging the outside air
from the wet channel through the exhaust hole. The first filter and
the exhaust blower are installed in the wet channel.
[0017] Preferably, the device further comprises: a second filter
installed between the circulated air suction hole and the
dehumidifying wheel and removing impurities contained in the
circulated air; and an air supply blower installed between the
dehumidifying wheel and the sensible heat exchanger and forcibly
discharging the cooled circulated air from the dry channel through
the air supply hole. The second filter and the air supply blower
are installed in the dry channel.
[0018] Preferably, the case is further provided with a cooler
exhaust hole for discharging high-temperature air generated when
the regenerative-evaporative cooler conducts secondary cooling
operations.
[0019] Preferably, the amount of the high-temperature air to be
discharged through the cooler exhaust hole is 30% of the total
circulated air.
[0020] Preferably, the hot water to be introduced into the heating
coil is delivered from any one of: a cogeneration plant, a heating
boiler, a micro-turbine, a small gas engine, a small gas turbine, a
gas-fired boiler, or an oil-fired boiler.
[0021] Preferably, the circulated air suctioned through the
circulated air suction hole is mixed with the outside air at a
predetermined mixing ratio of 7:3.
[0022] According to a dehumidifying cooling device for district
heating of the present invention having the above described
configuration, it is possible to provide air cooling by use of hot
water supplied by large-scale or small-scale district heating
systems and gas or oil boilers installed in individual households.
Accordingly, the present invention has the effect of achieving a
reduced device size through the implementation of the cooling
operation without a compressor, and reduced manufacturing costs by
virtue of a simplified system configuration.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0023] The above and other objects, features and other advantages
of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the
following detailed description taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings, in which:
[0024] FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of a
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating according to the
present invention;
[0025] FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the flow of air in the
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating according to the
present invention; and
[0026] FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the temperature distribution
of humid air used in the dehumidifying cooling device for district
heating according to the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0027] The configuration of a dehumidifying cooling device for
district heating according to the present invention will be
described in detail with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
[0028] In the following description of the present invention, a
detailed description of known functions and configurations
incorporated herein will be omitted, when inclusion of them may
make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear.
Also, the terms used in the following description are defined
taking into consideration the functions obtained in accordance with
the present invention. The definitions of these terms should be
determined based on the whole content of this specification because
they may be changed in accordance with the option of a user or
operator or a usual practice.
[0029] FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the configuration of a
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating according to the
present invention.
[0030] Referring to FIG. 1, the dehumidifying cooling device 100
according to the present invention comprises: a case 110, a first
filter 120, a sensible heat exchanger 130, a heating coil 140, a
dehumidifying wheel 150, an exhaust blower 160, a second filter
170, an air supply blower 180, a regenerative-evaporative cooler
190, and a direct-evaporative cooler 200.
[0031] The case 110 is made of metal and has a rectangular box
shape. The case 110 is installed with a partition 119 dividing the
interior of the case 110 into a wet channel 111 and a dry channel
115. The case 110 has an outside air suction hole 113 at one end of
the wet channel 111 for introducing outside air into the wet
channel 111, and an exhaust hole 112 at the other end of the wet
channel 111 for discharging the outside air. The case 110 also has
a circulated air suction hole 116 at one end of the dry channel
115, for introducing circulated air from a conditioning space CS
into the dry channel 115, and an air supply hole 117 at the other
end of the dry channel 115 for supplying cooling air into the
conditioning space CS. The dry channel 115 of the case 110 is
further provided with a cooler exhaust hole 118 for discharging
high-temperature air generated while the regenerative-evaporative
cooler 190 carries out a secondary cooling operation that will be
described hereinafter. The circulated air, introduced into the case
110 through the circulated air suction hole 116, is mixed with the
outside air at a ratio of 7:3, to keep the interior of the case 110
in the atmospheric pressure state.
[0032] The first filter 120 is located in the wet channel 111 of
the case 110 between the outside air suction hole 113 and the
sensible heat exchanger 130. The first filter 120 is used to remove
impurities and odors from the suctioned outside air. Preferably,
the first filter 120 is an antibacterial filter, and is easily
separable from the case 110.
[0033] The sensible heat exchanger 130 has a rotating shaft 131
installed in the plane of the partition 119 and takes the form of a
disc rotating on shaft 131 inside the wet channel 111 and the dry
channel 115 of the case 110. The sensible heat exchanger 130 is
used to heat exchange the outside air introduced into the wet
channel 111 through the outside air suction hole 113 with the
circulated air introduced into the dry channel 115. The sensible
heat exchanger 130 is a honeycomb-patterned disc fabricated by
processing a thin plate, such as an aluminum plate, etc. The
sensible heat exchanger 130 carries out a primary heat exchange
operation for lowering the temperature of the circulated air that
is dehumidified by passing through the dehumidifying wheel 150 to
be described hereinafter. There are a motor and belt (not shown)
for rotation of the sensible heat exchanger 130.
[0034] The heating coil 140 is located in the wet channel 111 of
the case 110 between a back end of the sensible heat exchanger 130
and the exhaust hole 112. The heating coil 140 raises the
temperature of the outside air passing through the wet channel 111
by use of hot water introduced therein. The hot water introduced
into the heating coil 140 is delivered from any one of: a
cogeneration plant, a heating boiler, a micro-turbine, a small gas
engine, a small gas turbine, a gas-fired boiler, or an oil-fired
boiler, and has a temperature within a range of 60 to 120.degree.
C.
[0035] The dehumidifying wheel 150 has a rotating shaft 151
installed in the plane of partition 119, and takes the form of a
disc to rotating on shaft 151 inside the wet channel 111 and the
dry channel 115 of the case 110. The dehumidifying wheel 150 is
located behind the heating coil 140 and serves to adsorb and remove
moisture contained in the circulated air within the dry channel
115. The dehumidifying wheel 150 is regenerated by evaporating the
adsorbed moisture to thereby supply the moisture into the
high-temperature outside air within the wet channel 111. The
dehumidifying wheel 150 is a honeycomb-patterned disc containing an
adsorbent, such as silica gel, zeolite, or the like, for adsorbing
the moisture contained in the circulated air in a dry adsorption
manner. There are a motor and belt (not shown) for rotation of the
dehumidifying wheel 150.
[0036] The exhaust blower 160 is installed in the wet channel 111
of the case 110 between the dehumidifying wheel 150 and the exhaust
hole 112, and forcibly discharges the outside air from the wet
channel 111.
[0037] The second filter 170 is installed in the dry channel 115 of
the case 110 between the circulated air suction hole 116 and the
dehumidifying wheel 150 and removes impurities and odors from the
circulated air. Preferably, the second filter 170 is an
antibacterial filter, and is easily separable from the case
110.
[0038] The air supply blower 180 is installed in the dry channel
115 of the case 110 in front of the dehumidifying wheel 150 and
forcibly discharges the circulated air from the dry channel 115
through the circulated air supply hole 117.
[0039] The regenerative-evaporative cooler 190 is installed in the
dry channel 115 between the circulated air supply hole 117 and the
sensible heat exchanger 130. After the circulated air introduced
into the dry channel 115 is dehumidified by the dehumidifying wheel
150 so as to be changed to high-temperature dry air, and
subsequently heat exchanged and cooled by the sensible heat
exchanger 130, the regenerative-evaporative cooler 190 further
cools the circulated air. The cooled circulated air is delivered to
the air supply hole 117 of the case 110, while the high-temperature
air generated during cooling is delivered to the cooler exhaust
hole 118. The amount of the high-temperature air to be discharged
through the cooler exhaust hole 118 is 30% of the total circulated
air. The interior of the regenerative-evaporative cooler 190 is
divided into a dry channel and a wet channel. If a part of the air
passing through the dry channel is delivered into the wet channel,
the air is cooled as water is evaporated by the high-temperature
surface of the wet channel, which acts to absorb heat from the
remaining higher temperature air passing through the dry channel.
The air passing through the dry channel can be cooled to a
dew-point temperature to the maximum extent without an increase of
humidity. The configuration of the regenerative-evaporative cooler
190 is disclosed in Korea Patent Registration No. 0409265 and thus,
a detailed description thereof will be omitted herein.
[0040] The direct-evaporative cooler 200 is installed in the dry
channel 115 of the case 110 in front of the
regenerative-evaporative cooler 190. The direct-evaporative cooler
200 serves to carry out a secondary cooling operation of the
circulated air from the regenerative-evaporative cooler 190, so as
to supply the resulting air into the conditioning space CS through
the air supply hole 117 of the case 110.
[0041] Hereinafter, the operation and effects of the dehumidifying
cooling device for district heating according to the present
invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 to
3.
[0042] FIG. 2 is a view illustrating the flow of air in the
dehumidifying cooling device for district heating according to the
present invention, and FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the
temperature distribution of humid air used in the dehumidifying
cooling device.
[0043] First, explaining a dehumidifying cooling operation carried
out in the dry channel 115, circulated air from the conditioning
space CS, which is mixed with high-temperature and high-humidity
outside air, is introduced into the dry channel 115 of the case 110
through the circulated air suction hole 116 by the air supply
blower 180. After passing through the second filter 170, the
introduced circulated air subsequently passes through the
dehumidifying wheel 150 such that the moisture contained in the
circulated air is removed by the adsorbent.
[0044] The dehumidified circulated air is heated by adsorptive heat
generated from the surface of the dehumidifying wheel 150. The
resulting high-temperature and low-humidity circulated air is heat
exchanged with the outside air in the wet channel 111 by the
sensible heat exchanger 130. Thus, the circulated air is changed to
the low-temperature air prior to being introduced into the
regenerative-evaporative cooler 190.
[0045] When the circulated air is introduced into the
regenerative-evaporative cooler 190, 70% of the circulated air is
cooled while passing through the regenerative-evaporative cooler
190, and 30% of the circulated air is discharged to the outside
through the cooler exhaust hole 118.
[0046] The circulated air, having passed through the
regenerative-evaporative cooler 190, is secondarily cooled while
passing through the direct-evaporative cooler 200, then is supplied
into the conditioning space CS through the air supply hole 117 of
the case 110.
[0047] Next, explaining a heat-exchange operation carried out in
the wet channel 111, high-temperature and high-humidity outside air
is introduced into the wet channel 111 through the outside air
suction hole 113 and passes through the first filter 120 under the
operation of the exhaust blower 160. Then the filtered outside air
is heat exchanged with the circulated air in the dry channel 115 by
the sensible heat exchanger 130, such that the temperature of the
outside air is raised. Then the outside air with the raised
temperature passes through the heating coil 140.
[0048] While passing through the heating coil 140, the temperature
of the outside air is further raised by hot water supplied to the
heating coil 140. Thus, the outside air to be delivered into the
dehumidifying wheel 150 has a significantly raised temperature.
[0049] As the dehumidifying wheel 150 rotates in a state of
adsorbing moisture, the outside air forcibly evaporates moisture
while passing through the dehumidifying wheel 150, and thereafter,
is discharged to the outside through the exhaust hole 112. Through
the above described process, the surface of the dehumidifying wheel
150 is returned to an original dried state, thereby recovering its
dehumidifying ability.
[0050] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in the dehumidifying cooling
device for district heating according to the present invention, if
circulated air {circle around (1)} is introduced into the case, the
circulated air {circle around (1)} is mixed with outside air
{circle around (4)} to produce mixed air {circle around (2)} having
a raised temperature and absolute humidity. While passing through
the dehumidifying wheel, the mixed air {circle around (2)} is
changed to higher-temperature and lower absolute-humidity air
{circle around (3)}.
[0051] Then, the air {circle around (3)} is heat exchanged with
outside air {circle around (8)} in the wet channel while passing
through the sensible heat exchanger such that the heat exchanged
air {circle around (4)} has a slightly lowered temperature. In
sequence, while passing through the regenerative-evaporative
cooler, the temperature of the air {circle around (4)} is rapidly
lowered to produce significantly cooled air {circle around (5)}.
Thereafter, while passing through the direct-evaporative cooler,
the temperature of the air {circle around (5)} is further lowered
slightly, but the absolute humidity of the air {circle around (5)}
is raised, thereby resulting in cooling air {circle around
(6)}.
[0052] Meanwhile, when the introduced outside air {circle around
(7)} passes through the first filter, the filtered air {circle
around (8)} has the same temperature and absolute humidity as does
the outside air {circle around (7)}. The filtered air {circle
around (8)} is heat exchanged with the circulated air {circle
around (3)} in the dry channel while passing through the sensible
heat exchanger. The resulting heat exchanged air {circle around
(9)} is slightly raised in temperature, but keeps the same absolute
humidity as that of the air {circle around (8)}. Then, the
temperature of the air {circle around (9)} is rapidly raised while
passing through the heating coil, resulting in high-temperature air
{circle around (10)}.
[0053] The high temperature air {circle around (10)} is lowered in
temperature but raised in absolute humidity in the course of
passing through the dehumidifying wheel, thereby being changed to
low-temperature and high-humidity air {circle around (11)}.
[0054] In conclusion, in the dehumidifying cooling device for
district heating according to the present invention, air to be
supplied into a conditioning indoor space is subjected to the
transfer of heat and moisture via a direct contact with the
dehumidifying cooling device. This has the effect of achieving
excellent transfer efficiency and producing and supplying cooling
air with a low-temperature heating source of 60.degree. C. Further,
differently from conventional absorptive devices, the dehumidifying
cooling device is operable in normal atmospheric pressure and has a
simplified configuration, resulting in a considerable reduction of
manufacturing costs.
[0055] As apparent from the above description, a dehumidifying
cooling device according to the present invention can be installed
in residential and business buildings, etc. using hot water
delivered from district heating facilities as a source for cooling
a room.
[0056] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention
have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the
art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and
substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and
spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying
claims.
* * * * *