Thermal analysis and optimization of a system for water harvesting from humid air using thermoelectric coolers
Thermal analysis and optimization of a system for water harvesting from humid air using thermoelectric coolers
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DOI：
10.1016/j.enconman.2018.08.045
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发表时间：
2018-10
影响因子：
10.4
通讯作者：
M. Eslami;F. Tajeddini;N. Etaati
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Eslami;F. Tajeddini;N. Etaati
凝结大气中的水蒸气可以被认为是解决水资源短缺问题的一种方法。本文对利用热电制冷器从湿空气中制取水的过程进行了热力学分析。该系统由若干热电冷却器、提供所需气流循环的风扇、两个冷空气通道和热空气通道、散热器以及用于为热电冷却器和风扇供电的太阳能电池组成。各种设计参数的影响进行了研究和讨论。对所提出的设计进行优化，以获得最大的效率，其被定义为每单位能耗的采出水量。灵敏度分析用于找到TEC的最佳数量，通道的长度和系统的性能在不同的温度。所得到的系统能够在1小时内从具有75%相对湿度和318 K温度的空气中产生26 ml水，仅消耗20 W的电力。此外，该装置在伊朗南部三个城市的全年性能和优化的基础上，每小时的气象数据。最后，本系统与其他空气水发生器的比较表明，所提出的设计是最节能的系统中类似的设备，特别是在高相对湿度。
Condensation of water vapor available in atmospheric air can be considered as a solution for water scarcity problem. In this paper, a comprehensive thermodynamic analysis of water production from humid air using thermoelectric coolers (TECs) is presented. The system consists of a number of thermoelectric coolers, a fan to supply the required air flow circulation, two cold and hot air channels, heat sinks and solar cells for powering the thermoelectric coolers and fan. Effects of various design parameters are investigated and discussed. The proposed design is optimized to get the maximum effectiveness which is defined as the amount of produced water per unit of energy consumption. Sensitivity analysis is used to find the optimum number of TECs, length of the channels and performance of the system at different temperatures. The resulting system is capable of producing 26 ml of water within 1 h from the air with 75% relative humidity and the temperature of 318 K by consuming only 20 W of electrical power. In addition, the annual performance and optimization of this device in three southern cities of Iran are presented based on hourly meteorological data. Finally, comparison of the present system with other air water generators indicates that the proposed design is the most energy efficient system among similar devices especially in high relative humidity.