Households throughout the United States can look forward to a better way of controlling humidity problems within the home thanks to a new project a team of MSU researchers are working on. According to Carl James, associate director of the MSU center conducting the research, the project is based on the idea of using old technology in a new way.
“We are not claiming that this is new technology,” James said. “This type of technology has been used in the processing control industry for a while. However, we are taking it and the benefits it confers to the domestic level.”
Jimmy Martin, a senior in general business administration, said, “I think that it’s interesting that the research center has found a way to develop new uses for old technology that will end up impacting everyday individuals, and it sounds like these units have the potential to have a positive effect on many households within the area.”
The desiccant dehumidifying unit works in conjunction with typical heating and air conditioning units to create a system that is almost sponge-like in nature. The desiccant unit, which resembles a wheel-shaped, honeycomb-like matrix, is placed inside a traditional air conditioning unit. As the air flows into the unit, it passes through the dehumidifying unitwhich is covered by desiccants, substances that are used as drying agents.
As the air circulates, these desiccants absorb the water vapor in the air. As the desiccants lose their absorbency, they are rejuvenated as a warmer air stream from the unit passes over them. This causes them to release the absorbed water vapor. This air stream is then channeled to the outdoors while the cooler, conditioned and dehumidified air is expelled into the individual’s home.
The desiccant dehumidifying unit proposed by MSU’s research center offers benefits that surpass the dehumidifying aspects of both typical air conditioning units and dehumidifying systems alike. Although typical air conditioners dehumidify rooms to a certain extent by lowering the dew point of the air. This function ceases once the room reaches the desired temperature and the air conditioner turns off. The desiccant system, however, continues to dehumidify even after the air has reached the desired temperature.
James said that the desiccant dehumidifying unit that the MSU research center is currently working on should also surpass typical dehumidifying systems that are currently available to domestic consumers.
“Usually, the typical dehumidifying unit that an individual would pick up at somewhere like Sears is a room dehumidifier,” James said. “Some of the pitfalls and limitations associated with dehumidifying units like these are that they are limited to a single room and that they end up dumping a lot of heat back into the room in which they operate. The desiccant system that we’re working on right now serves the entire house and dumps a lot less heat back into the room.”
The research team, headed by B.K. Hodge, hopes to have the desiccant dehumidifying units up and running as soon as possible.
“The date that the systems will be ready for the market is not exactly nailed down,” James said. “We want the units out on the market by Spring 2003, as the spring and the fall tend to be high dehumidification months.”
Senior Brian Easley said, “I think that systems such as these will be highly marketable, particularly in coastal areas and the South where humidity is such a problem.”
Some of the benefits that the desiccant technology offers homeowners are increased air quality and lower humidity levels. Both of these factors can contribute to increased comfort within the home as well as the reduction of mold and mildew growth. Furthermore, household furnishings that are prone to moisture damage will suffer fewer ill effects due to the dehumified air.
The research currently being conducted by Corp. Hodge, James and their associates is the result of a patent grant given to the university’s Research and Technology Corporation by the Global Center for Desiccant Technology.