Applicability of a hollow-fiber membrane humidifier integrated into an electric heat pump for heating of the office space

초록

Indoor air humidity drops significantly below the comfort range during winter heating, and this issue is particularly pronounced in environments using split-type heat pumps that are structurally incapable of controlling moisture. This study proposes integrating a hollow-fiber membrane humidifier into the indoor unit of a ceiling-mounted cassette-type electric heat pump system and evaluates its humidification performance through numerical simulation and field testing. The humidification performance was compared with a portable ultrasonic humidifier under the same heating environment. In the simulation, the proposed system reached the lower limit of the comfort humidity range (6.6 g/kg) in 11 min, approximately 63% faster than the ultrasonic humidifier. The field test confirmed this trend, with the proposed system reaching the target humidity approximately 40% faster. The humidification rate of the proposed system naturally decreased as indoor humidity rose due to the reduction in water vapor partial pressure difference, enabling rapid humidity recovery under dry initial conditions and prolonged maintenance within the comfort range. These results demonstrate the feasibility of integrating hollow-fiber membrane humidification into split-type heat pump systems and provide a foundation for extending its applicability to HVAC systems.

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