Investigation of Dehumidification Performance and Flow Characteristics of Wavy Vacuum Membrane-Based Dehumidification Modules

Abstract This work investigates the dehumidification performance of vacuum membrane-based dehumidification with difference wavy membranes. Firstly, this paper constructs four different models of wavy membrane support layers, and proposes their explicit functions. In addition, the accuracy of different turbulence models under wavy boundary condition are compared. Using the verified turbulence model, this paper studies the dehumidification performance of four wavy membrane-based dehumidification modules. Finally, according to the details of flow field, the mechanism behind these dehumidification phenomena are discussed. Results indicate that low-Reynolds number k–e turbulence model has a higher accuracy than other models in wavy boundary. Wavy membrane does not always increase the dehumidification efficiency, even if it can always increase dehumidification area. When waviness is in the range of 0∼0.06, the dehumidification effect of four wavy membranes are weaker than that of flat membrane, and the flow resistance of four wavy membranes are higher than that of flat membrane. Vertical velocity induced by wavy membrane is the key factor to enhancing dehumidification performance, and a steeper wavy membrane shape at the tail of backflow is beneficial to dehumidification. This work demonstrates the basic dehumidification mechanism of wavy membrane and can provide suggestions for diversified development of vacuum membrane-based dehumidification module.