A heat and humidity exchanger comprises panels made up of membrane sheets attached on either side of a separator. Channels extend across each panel between the separator and the membrane sheets. The panels are much stiffer than the membrane sheets. Panels are stacked in a spaced apart relationship to provide an ERV core. Spacing between adjacent panels may be smaller than a thickness of the panels.

The present invention provides a heat-driven adsorption vacuum dehumidification system including a vapor adsorption apparatus having a water permeable hydrophilic membrane separating the apparatus into at least a feed section and a low-pressure or vacuum section (evaporator), and providing a water vapor pressure difference to extract moisture from the air flowing through the apparatus into the evaporator, followed by adsorption in an adsorption chamber, and subsequently desorbed when acted as a desorption chamber to form water vapor which is condensed in a condenser. Adsorption and desorption chambers inter-change periodically to form a complete system cycle. Heating of chamber/compartment can be from waste heat or a renewable source in the absence of any electricity supplied externally. Related method for using a heat-driven adsorption vacuum dehumidification system to remove moisture from the air is also provided. The present invention is superior to the adsorption chiller over a wide range of operating conditions.

A device for exchange of water molecule and temperature between two fluids. The device comprises thin molecular sieve membrane sheets that allow water molecules to permeate through while blocking cross-over of the exchanging fluids. The device provides two sets of flow channels having a hydraulic diameter ranged from 0.5 to 2.0 mm for respective process and sweep fluid flows. The two sets of the channels are separated by a membrane sheet having a thickness less than 200 μm. The thin molecule sieve membrane may be prepared by forming an ultra-thin zeolite membrane layer on a porous metal-based support sheet which provides very high water permeance so that the exchange can be conducted in a compact membrane module at high throughput. The device can be used to remove water from a process stream of higher water content by use of a sweep fluid of lower water content or higher water affinity. For example, the device can be used to condition outdoor fresh air close to the temperature and humidity of indoor air by conducting humidity and heat exchange between the fresh air flow drawn from outdoors and waste air discharged indoors.

An air conditioning (AC) system is provided, employing a sulfonated copolymer (SC) layer as a selectively permeable and ion exchanging membrane. The sulfonated block copolymer has an IEC greater than 0.5 meq/g. In embodiments, the sulfonated block copolymer is used to form the membrane itself, or bonded/coated onto a membrane or a foam. In embodiments, the AC employs a membrane electrode assembly, i.e., using electric field across a membrane in a dehumidifier to transport moisture generating a dry air stream, along with an evaporative cooler for latent heat removal via evaporation induced cooling of the dry air stream from the dehumidifier. The system operates as a closed loop wherein the room air after cooling is recycled or loop back to the dehumidifying membrane electrode assembly to generate dry air for the evaporative cooler, generating conditioned air.

A humidification and selective permeation module in which humidification of a gaseous feed stream and selective permeation of components in the gaseous feed stream using a facilitated-transport membrane occurs within the same unit operation is disclosed. A process for separation of components in a gaseous feed stream using the humidification and permeation module combines continuous humidification of the feed stream and selective permeation using the facilitated-transport membrane.

A composite exchange membrane is made by combining ionomer with porous polyolefin, such as polyethylene or polypropylene. The composite ion exchange membrane may be used in the core of an energy recovery ventilator. The core of the energy recovery ventilator may comprise corrugated or pleated supports for supporting the composite ion exchange membrane. The air flow into the energy recovery ventilator may be modified to actively create non-laminar flow.

A wettable media pad comprises an inlet side and an outlet side and a porous structure made from a non-woven material, comprising a plurality channels having a hexagonal cross-section defined by six walls, the channels running from the inlet side to the outlet side, wherein the wettable media pad is configured to direct fluid from a top surface of the media pad to a bottom surface of the media pad along at least one of the walls of the channels, wherein the wettable media pad is configured to exchange heat and mass between a fluid positioned on or in a wall of the channels and a gas flowing through the channels as the gas flows from the inlet side to the outlet side, and wherein the wettable media pad is produced with additive manufacturing. A method of making a wettable media pad is also described.

A method and system for mass and heat exchange, where water is preferentially absorbed by a non-toxic, non-corrosive liquid desiccant after passing through a hydrophilic, non-porous membrane. Optionally, mixing stages are provided to reduce the surface concentration of water at the desiccant-membrane interface.

An air delivery system may include a housing, a first liquid-to-air membrane energy exchanger (LAMEE), and a desiccant storage tank. The housing includes a supply air channel and an exhaust air channel. The first LAMEE may be an exhaust LAMEE disposed within an exhaust air channel of the housing. The exhaust LAMEE is configured to receive the outside air during a desiccant regeneration mode in order to regenerate desiccant within the exhaust LAMEE. The desiccant storage tank is in communication with the exhaust LAMEE. The exhaust LAMEE is configured to store regenerated desiccant within the desiccant storage tank. The regenerated desiccant within the desiccant storage tank is configured to be tapped during a normal operation mode.

A flow plate for a humidifier, having flow fields on both mutually opposite flat sides of the flow plate is described. The flow plate proposed here has a multiplicity of through-openings, wherein the through-openings are designed such that a perpendicular projection of the through openings onto a plane oriented parallel to the plane of the flat surface of the flow plate has a non-vanishing area, so that gas passing through the through-openings effects, at least in part, mixing of a gas guided in the flow fields perpendicular to the plane of the flat surface of the flow plate. The through-openings improve the power of the humidifier, thus permitting a lower number of flow plates and therefore a more lightweight and more compact design.