Rough Design Draft:
As of right now we have created a rough annotated model of our design. We plan to include a desiccant drum, heat exchanger, heater, motor, fans and a collection tank. During the next few weeks we will narrow in specifics to make our final design
Fall Semester 2023 Final Dehumidifier Design:
After weeks of calculations and revisions we have created a more in depth Solidworks model of our design. In the figure above much like the rough draft the initial elements still remain, but we have now have included the necessary items in terms of drainage and sensors, such as the Raspberry Pi. Going forwards we plan to order the necessary materials to begin building our prototype in the beginning of the Spring 2024 semester.
Coming back from winter break we officially ordered the system components from our design budget. We took apart the dehumidifier we purchased for the necessary parts, such as the heat exchanger and fan seen above.
In order to test for the flow rate going into the heaters to finish calculations we jury-rigged a mount for the heater to lie in and put it into the system shown below.
Throughout the last few days we found that the heaters weren’t able to meet our thermal requirements, so we went to our local thrift store and purchased hair dryers. We were able to take apart the dryers and extract their heaters which are capable of producing up to 1800 W.
Using additional components, from the previously disassembled dehumidifier we continued to test for specific outlet temperatures of the heater and the coils as well as the power the system was drawing.
Following our specified dimensions the polycarbonate sheets were able to be machined. For now the walls are held together by tape, but we plan on glueing the structure together with a resin epoxy. However, before we can glue the structure we are going to finish up testing the components and then place them into the system.
Once the housing was epoxy’d we began to start fastening and sealing the individual components into the structure. The plan is to finish installing the rest of the parts and fasten the top to begin testing.