Desiccant Dehumidification - Manufacurers

[dirtnapper]

Does anyone have recommendations on a good quality manufacturer of desiccant dehumidifiers and at the same time "mfgs" to avoid. I'm designing an ice rink with RQRMNTS at 55 F @ 40% RH and desiccant is the way to get that low moisture requirement. I would hate to spec a crappy system!!!

ASHRAE Ventilation is a killer on ice rinks - 0.5 cfm per SF of ice - which must be because of gas operated ice making resurfacing machines. I see no exception of avoiding this high OA vetilation rate. Any comments on this also???

 

[MintJulep]

A few questions?

Why 40% RH requirement? Very low humidity can be problematic in athletic facilities, as it can lead to dry throats.

Why have you ruled out cooling the air below dew point as a means of dehumidifcation?

On the ventilation thing, could you bump up the ventilation only when the Zamboni is running? You could interlock this with a radio frequency gizzmo.

 

[dirtnapper]

I believe several recommended standards for hockey rinks is about 55 degrees at 50% RH (about a 37 degree dew point - very difficult to achieve off a cooling coil without freezing). The owner wants to have the ability to get down to 40% RH (about a 32 degree dew point - definitely not going to happen with DX cooling).

The reason for the low RH and dew point is condensation issues & fog issues. Certainly will use cooling to treat air from HOT Summer Conditions to reasonable levels. However, ice rinks seem to be the one acceptable application for desiccant usage.

 

[Scipio]

Well, I'm installing a dessicant dehydrator to dry natural gas to use as fuel gas. My particular service is well beyond what you need (I'm dehydrating about a half million cubic feet of gas per day to a dew point of -30°C). Might be worth looking at if all else fails, the system is trademarked Desi-Dri, manufactured by the NatcoGroup (

http://www.natcogroup.com).

It's intended for gas conditioning but I don't see why it wouldn't work on air.

 

[dirtnapper]

Now that is a gigantic dryer!!! There are several manufacturers of this type of equipment - the problem is none of them are Trane, McQuay, Carrier, etc.

These "Big Boys" will tell me not to go desiccant as the argument of "over cooling" versus absorbtion goes on. This application (an ice rink) doesn't need the internal cooling - the heat gain is not there! The sensible cooling requirements are minimal - The latent heat removal is a killer.

I just want to make sure I have a quality and reputable manufacturer like these big boys and their DX cooling units!

 

[pennpoint]

dirtnapper
Go to (

http://www.zamboni.com)

and you'll see electric powered machines (Model 552). Maybe you need to respec the zamboni.

Just a thought

pennpoint

 

[quark]

Munters are leaders in air dehumidification(solid desiccant). Go to

http://www.munters.com.

For liquid desiccant systems there are Cathabar and Drycor. Drycor systems comewith their own chilling system and the heat of condensation is used to regenerate LiCl which is used as desiccant.

Regards,