Conference Year

2018

Keywords

Liquid desiccant, Evaporaitve cooler, Microbial contamination, Air quality

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the removal effects of microbial contamination, such as fungi and bacteria, on a packaged liquid desiccant-assisted air conditioning unit. Recently, a package unit of a liquid desiccant and indirect and direct evaporative cooling-assisted 100% outdoor air system (LD-IDECOAS) was proposed. The LD-IDECOAS consists of a liquid desiccant system, an indirect evaporative cooler, and a direct evaporative cooler. The test was conducted under operating conditions during the cooling season when the LD-IDECOAS operates a liquid desiccant system, an indirect evaporative cooler, and a direct evaporative cooler. The sampling is performed at the inlet (outdoor air) and outlet (supply air) of the package unit. Fungi were cultured in a potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, and bacteria were cultured in a tryptic soy agar (TSA) medium as indices of bio-contaminants. The results indicated that the concentration of fungal contamination in the supply air (that passes through the package unit) decreased by 7.7% when compared to that of outdoor air. The concentration of bacterial contamination in the outlet was also reduced by 72.4% when compared to that in the inlet. Hence, the package unit improves air quality by removing bio-contaminants, such as fungi and bacteria, although unexpected contamination occurred in the experiment.

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