Quote:
Originally Posted by DEnd
You don't even need salt for this type of system. Water itself will act as a desiccant as long as its temperature is below the dew point. With this type of system when you do the heat removal process you are effectively only removing latent heat. there is no need to add heat to power evaporation then remove the left over heat from that process.
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The brine solution has an affinity for water. The latent heat of condensation is substituted for the energy required for the salt to dissolve. The water isn't condensing into the solution, it is being absorbed. The process allows the solution to not have to be cooler than room temperature to grab moisture from the air. It is also less energy demanding than a phase change system.
If employed by the OP, the desiccant system would not replace the mini split, it would complement operation by attacking the latent load. It could feed off of the outdoor unit waste heat, though. Direct contact not recommend (salt water and aluminum or copper could prove deadly to the heat pump), but a simple helical wrap around the compressor discharge pipe would make a good preheat exchanger.
In contrast, adding a groundwater quench stage to the heat pump acts as a double effect regenerator would behave with the AWG system. Different methods same objective. Try not to violate any patents making either of these work.
https://www.google.com/patents/US20100090356