The University of Illinois at Chicago
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Room 2055, ERF
842 West Taylor Street
Chicago, IL 60607-7022
Laboratory Telephone: 312-413-0460

Director: William M. Worek, Ph.D.
Office Telephone: 312-996-5610
E-mail: william.m.worek@uic.edu

In the Heat and Mass Transfer Laboratory, research is being conducted several areas. In the first area, the heat and mass transfer processes that occur when a solid desiccant material adsorbs moisture is being studied. The objective of this program is to develop a new class of desiccant materials capable of being regenerated directly with natural gas and to design a high-performance, gas-fired cooling system capable of better moisture control than conventional cooling systems.

The scope of this work includes the numerical modeling and experimental evaluation of new desiccant materials and systems. The experimental test system is a computer controlled dynamic test channel capable of reproducing conditions encountered in the field and enables the measurement of the local heat and mass transfer rates within the desiccant material. In another area of research, the effect of frost formation on the surface of a heat exchanger element is being evaluated. In this work, the transient, position-dependent rate of frost growth on a heat exchanger surface is being measured using a specially design laser depth gauge. Also, the mechanisms of frost removal and methods to enhance frost removal are being studied. In a third area, the experimental investigation of the combined heat and mass transfer processes that occur when water is absorbed by a flowing, liquid-desiccant film is being investigated. This work aids in the understanding of the flow and transport processes that occur in these systems, enables in the development and validation of mathematical models to describe these processes and has the potential to dramatically improve the performance of thermally activated liquid desiccant dehumidification systems.

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