Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Desalination
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Thermal performance assessment of an evaporative condenser-based T

combined heat pump and humidification-dehumidification desalination
system
Meysam Faegh, Mohammad Behshad Shafii
⁎

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: A new design for heat pump integrated humidification-dehumidification (HDH-HP) desalination cycles was
Thermal desalination proposed in the current experimental study. An evaporative condenser was designed and fabricated instead of a
Humidification-dehumidification separate humidifier, heater, and air/water-cooled condensers find in previous HDH-HP systems. Meanwhile, the
Evaporative condenser air dehumidification process in this work directly occurred inside the heat pump evaporator. The effect of several
Heat pump
operating parameters such as ambient wet-bulb temperature, spraying saline water and airflow rates, compressor
Electronic expansion valve
speed, superheat, and evaporator saturation temperature control modes of the electronic expansion valve (EEV)
on freshwater production and GOR were studied. Analyzing the experimental results indicated that the system
productivity and GOR reached 1.08 kg/h and 2.00, respectively. Higher freshwater produced at decreased
airflow rates and increased ambient wet-bulb temperatures, spraying water flow rate and compressor speeds.
Moreover, it was observed that the system performance enhances at higher adjusted evaporator saturated
temperatures and lower superheats in the EEV controller. The experimental data for cooling capacity, com­
pressor power, and current consumption was in agreement with polynomials provided by the compressor
manufacturer. Additionally, the cost of generated freshwater was obtained as 0.019 $/L.

1. Introduction with an external cooling source in a dehumidifier to produce fresh­

The need for freshwater is rising globally by a drastic increase in the
population and industrial development. It has been estimated that by
2040, the imbalance between the supply and demand for freshwater
will result in a global water stress challenge in 167 countries [1]. The
desalination of seawater has been proved to be a reliable solution to
meet the freshwater requirement. Despite the improvement and com­
mercialization of various methods in recent years, current desalination
methods are energy-intensive processes [2]. This motivates the re­
searchers to develop more cost-effective, reliable, and sustainable de­
salination technologies [3]. Humidification-dehumidification (HDH) is
one of the under-development desalination methods, which has focused
on by various researchers due to its applicability in decentralized areas
[4], low maintenance, and capital cost [5]. HDH desalination cycles
have simple structures, which mainly consisted of two components, i.e.,
humidifier and dehumidifier. Besides, the HDH systems own the cap­
ability of being powered by various renewable energy resources [6]. In
these systems, air/saline water gets heated by a heating source and
brought into contact with together in a humidifier and then cools down
water.
Despite the significant advantages of HDH systems, the high energy
consumption and low gained output ratio (GOR) act as significant
barriers to make HDH systems commercialized. To overcome this issue,
many research efforts have been made to improve the performance of
conventional HDH systems with different types of humidifiers, dehu­
midifiers, and heat sources [7]. It has been reported that the bubble
column humidifiers [8] and dehumidifiers [9] enhanced the pro­
ductivity of HDH cycles.
A prominent method to enhance both the yield and overall energy
performance of HDH cycles is to couple them with heat pumps. Heat
pumps, which are considered as high-performance energy conservation
systems, can provide heating/cooling load demand of HDH systems
through their condenser and evaporator, respectively. Some researchers
tried to increase the productivity of combined HDH and heat pump
(HDH-HP) systems by lowering the temperature of the cooling medium
in the dehumidifier. In this regard, Lawal et al. [10] conducted a the­
oretical investigation on a heat pump based desalination cycle. The
evaporator cooling load was delivered to the inlet saline water entering

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: behshad@sharif.edu (M.B. Shafii).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2020.114733
Received 27 June 2020; Received in revised form 23 August 2020; Accepted 26 August 2020
Available online 10 September 2020
0011-9164/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii
Nomenclature
Ci=1–18 Performance coefficients of the compressor
Cp Specific heat (J/kg K)
CPL Cost per liter ($/L)
EEV Electronic expansion valve
GOR Gained output ratio
h Enthalpy (kJ/kg)
hfg Latent heat (J/kg)
HDH Humidification-dehumidification
HP Heat pump
I Electrical current (A)
m Mass flow rate (kg/s)
MR Saline water to air mass flow rate ratio
P Pressure (kPa)
Q Rate of heat transfer (W)
RH Relative humidity
RMSE Root mean square error
SH Superheat (°C), (SH = Tr1-Te)
T Temperature (°C)
Te Saturation temperature of dehumidifying evaporator at
evaporator pressure (°C)
Tc Saturation temperature of evaporative condenser at con­
denser pressure (°C)
V Voltage (v)
V Volumetric flow rate (m3/h)
W Power consumption (W)
the dehumidifier to reduce its temperature and raise the rate of dehu­
midification. At the same time, the condenser heating load was utilized
either to heat the inlet saline water to the humidifier or to raise the
temperature of the air entering the dehumidifier. It was shown that
higher GOR could be achieved in air heated cycle compared to water
heated one. An optimum value was reported for the saline water to air
mass flow rate ratio to maximize the GOR. Besides, it was shown that
the evaporator has the highest irreversibility within the system com­
ponents [11]. The exergy efficiency of 1.097% and cost of 4.61 to 5.49
$/m3 was reported for the proposed air heated HDH-HP cycle.
Another way to raise the freshwater yield is to use more efficient
dehumidifiers. He et al. theoretically calculated the productivity of an
HDH-HP cycle with traditional [12] and packed-bed [13] dehumidifiers
in which the waste heat of rejected brine was absorbed in the HP
evaporator and delivered to saline water through the HP condenser. It
was reported that the freshwater productivity increases with reducing
the condenser pinch temperature difference and increasing the heat
pump pressure ratio. At the balance condition of the dehumidifier,
freshwater production of 76.4 kg/h and 82.12 kg/h were obtained for
packed-bed and conventional dehumidifiers, respectively. In a similar
work with that of [13], an HDH-HP system was theoretically examined
based on the algorithm of particle swarm optimization [14]. By re­
covering the evaporator cooling load in the second-stage air dehumi­
difier, an optimum yield and GOR of 89.27 kg/h and 4.17 were ob­
tained, respectively. Dehghani et al. [15] theoretically studied the
operation of an HDH-HP cycle integrated with a direct contact type
dehumidifier in which the evaporator cooling was utilized to cool down
the temperature of freshwater spraying into the dehumidifier, while the
condenser heating load was used to increase the incoming saline water
temperature to the humidifier. It was reported that a totally coupled
cycle can be achieved by adjusting the proper mass flow rate ratios.
In conventional HDH cycles, air passes through the coils carrying
the incoming saline water inside the dehumidifier. To achieve higher
freshwater productivity, some researchers focused on additional dehu­
midifiers based on heat pump cooling load to reach lower air tem­
peratures and more freshwater yield. Zhang et al. [16] experimentally
2
Desalination 496 (2020) 114733
Greek symbols
ηisentropic Isentropic efficiency of the compressor
ηelectrical Electrical efficiency of the compressor
ρ Density (kg/m3)
ω Absolute humidity (kgw/kga)
Subscripts
a Air
a1 Ambient air
a2 Air exiting the evaporative condenser, air entering the
dehumidifying evaporator
a3 Air exiting the dehumidifying evaporator
ec Evaporative condenser
e Evaporator (Dehumidifying evaporator)
fw Freshwater
r Refrigerant
sw Saline water
r1 Refrigerant exiting the dehumidifying evaporator, re­
frigerant entering the compressor
r2 Refrigerant exiting the compressor
r3 Refrigerant entering the evaporative condenser
r4 Refrigerant exiting the evaporative condenser, refrigerant
entering the electronic expansion valve
r5 Refrigerant exiting the electronic expansion valve, re­
frigerant entering the dehumidifying evaporator
studied an HDH-HP system by using the heat pump heating/cooling
load via separate heat exchanger loops. Utilizing the heat pump cooling
load in a secondary dehumidifier and its heating load to warm up the
saline water entering the dehumidifier led to a GOR, freshwater yield,
and CPL of 2.05, 22.26 kg/h and 0.05$/L, respectively. Moreover, a
correlation for freshwater productivity was reported with ± 2% de­
viation [17]. In a similar work, Xu et al. [18] conducted an experi­
mental study on a heat pump based HDH cycle, in which the air de­
humidification firstly is done by incoming saline water and then via the
heat pump cooling load as a secondary dehumidifier. As saline water
gets preheated in the first stage dehumidifier, it passes through the heat
pump condenser to absorb its heating load. To further increase the
temperature of spraying saline water, it passes through a solar collector.
Results indicated that for an optimal airflow rate of 450 m3/h and a
cooling saline water flow rate of 0.3 m3/h, GOR and productivity
reached 1.24 and 12.75 kg/h, respectively. Later, a secondary humi­
difier was added to the system in a way that a part of saline water going
out through the pre-cooler was sprayed into the system, whereas the
remaining saline water was directed through the heat pump condenser
and solar collector before entering the primary humidifier [19]. It was
reported that the GOR, freshwater productivity, and CPL increased by
55.64%, 15.51%, and 17.36% compared to a conventional humidifi­
cation-dehumidification system. Besides, it was found that an increase
of 1 m2 in the collectors area led to a 0.68 kg/h rise in yield and 0.06
drop-in GOR. Moreover, the optimization results revealed that by 1 m2
increase in the area of solar collectors, the GOR drops by 0.06, while the
productivity rises by 0.68 kg/h [20].
Previous HDH-HP systems at least consisted of four heat exchangers,
i.e., heat pump condenser, heat pump evaporator, humidifier, and de­
humidifier. Shafii et al. [21] experimentally coupled an HDH cycle with
a heat pump in which the usual saline water-cooled dehumidifier was
eliminated. In the proposed system, ambient air absorbs the heating
load of the heat pump condenser initially. Afterward, humidified air
enters the heat pump evaporator to produce freshwater. It was con­
cluded yield and GOR increase at higher entering air flow rate and
relative humidity. At elevated ambient temperatures, freshwater
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii
production rises, while GOR drops because of increased compressor
power consumption. In continuation of the previous work, the principle
of estimating the operation of HDH-HP systems at off-design conditions
was examined by Faegh & Shafii [22] theoretically. In that system, the
conventional dehumidifier was removed, and air dehumidification oc­
curred inside the heat pump evaporator. Meanwhile, the incoming
saline water was heated inside the heat pump condenser before entering
the humidifier. By employing the characteristics method for balancing
the system performance, the procedure of calculating the basic rating
coefficients for determining the productivity of a system with fixed heat
exchangers was proposed.
As discussed above, various researchers either utilized air-cooled or
water-cooled heat exchangers in HDH-HP systems to provide the re­
quired heating load through the heat pump condenser. The use of
various heat exchangers in the previous HDH-HP cycles added more
complexity to the systems. To the best of the author's data, there isn't
any published study on HDH-HP systems equipped with evaporative
condensers. Evaporative condensers are mainly used in the refrigeration
industry over the years due to their outstanding advantages as having
higher heat transfer coefficients [23], energy-saving capability [24],
and compactness [25] compared to air/water-cooled condensers. In an
evaporative condenser, both of the upward air and spraying downward
saline water streams are used to extract heat from the refrigerant
flowing inside the condenser coils. Therefore, an evaporative condenser
has the potential of being used as the humidifier and heater, simulta­
neously while extracting heat from the condenser of the HDH-HP cycle.
In this study, a novel compact HDH-HP system with only two heat
exchangers, i.e. an evaporative condenser and a dehumidifying eva­
porator was manufactured and investigated experimentally. In the
proposed system, the hot refrigerant enters the coils of the evaporative
condenser. It gets cooled by transferring its heat to the upward airflow
and downward spraying saline water stream, simultaneously.
Meanwhile, ambient air gets humidified by passing within the eva­
porative condenser and directly enters the evaporator of heat pump,
which functions as the dehumidifier in the system. An adjustable speed
fan was used between the evaporative condenser and heat pump eva­
porator, which draws the ambient air to the evaporative condenser and
sends it to the evaporator. This method eliminates two heat exchangers
and reduces the total required heat exchangers from 4 to 8 to 2 units
compared to conventional systems. In the current work, the perfor­
mance of the system was examined experimentally and thoroughly at
Fig. 1. Schematic view of the experimental setup.
3
Desalination 496 (2020) 114733
various ambient wet-bulb temperatures, spraying saline water and
airflow rates, compressor speeds, superheat, and saturated evaporator
temperature control modes of the electronic expansion valve. The
freshwater productivity, GOR, and cost of the produced freshwater
were reported, as well.
2. System description
2.1. Experimental setup
A schematic drawing of the fabricated system is indicated in Fig. 1.
It can be seen that the system is mainly comprised of an evaporative
condenser, an electronic expansion valve, a solenoid valve, a receiver
drier, a dehumidifying evaporator, a compressor, a fan, and a circu­
lating water pump. The experimental setup and a brief description of
system components are shown in Fig. 2 and Table 1, respectively. The
evaporative condenser in the proposed cycle not only acts as a heat
pump condenser but also functions as a humidifier. Ambient air (state
a1) enters the evaporative condenser and by flowing upward, gets hu­
midified (state a2) through the saline water sprayed downward via a
circulating water pump located at the water sump. Meanwhile, the
superheated refrigerant (state r3) inside the cupper coils enters the
evaporative condenser and, by rejecting its heat, exits from the lower
part of the evaporative condenser as subcooled liquid (state r4). The
refrigerant at the outlet of the evaporative condenser (state r4), passes
through a receiver drier, a solenoid valve (Danfoss-BG012DS), and an
electronic expansion valve (Danfoss-ETS608), respectively. The two-
phase refrigerant flow exiting the electronic expansion valve enters the
heat pump dehumidifying evaporator to provide cooling load (state r5).
A variable-speed fan (EBM-WIG200, 36-56 V) is incorporated at the
upper section of the evaporative condenser, which draws the humidi­
fied air (state a2) to the heat pump dehumidifying evaporator that acts
as the dehumidifier in the system. By recovering the heat pump cooling
load in the dehumidifying evaporator, freshwater is produced, and
dehumidified air (state a3) exits to the ambient. Also, the low-pressure
superheated refrigerant leaving the evaporator (state r1) and passing
through the compressor (Danfoss-BD350GH, 48-56 V) gets hot and
pressurized (state r2) and then passes through the evaporative con­
denser.
Several parameters, including the temperatures and pressures of
various points, air velocity and relative humidity, voltage, and current
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

Fig. 2. Fabricated experimental setup.

Table 1 of electrical devices and freshwater yield, were measured during the
Specifications of fabricated heat exchangers. tests. A summary of measuring instruments, their operational range,
Parameter Value
accuracy, and resolution are reported in Table 2.

Evaporative condenser 2.2. Governing equations

Coil material Cupper
Coil outer diameter 3/8″
Coil thickness 0.75 mm
The energy balance and mass conservation in the evaporator can be
Coil arrangement Staggered written as follows:
Transverse pitch 0.019 m
Longitudinal pitch 0.025 m Qe = mr (hr1 hr5) = ma (ha2 ha3) mfw hfw (1)
Length 35 cm
Width 11.43 cm mfw = ma ( a2 a3) (2)
Number of columns 11
Also, the input power, electrical efficiency and isentropic efficiency
Number of rows per column 10
of the compressor can be calculated as shown:
Evaporator
Fin to fin dimension (length×height) 20 cm×20 cm Wcompressor = Vc Ic (3)
Number of rows 4
Fin material Aluminum mr (hr2,isentropic hr1)
Fin thickness 170 μm isentropic = [13]
Fin per inch 8
Wcompressor (4)
Coil material Cupper
Coil size 3/8 mr (hr2 hr1)
electrical = [26]
Coil thickness 0.20 Wcompressor (5)
Coil arrangement Staggered
Inlet distributor Brass, 4 holes 3/16″ to ½″ The energy equilibrium in the evaporative condenser is given as:
Outlet collector 5/8″
Qec = mr (hr3 hr4) = ma (ha2 ha1) mmakeuphmakeup (6)

Table 2
Specifications of measuring equipment.
Measurement device Operation range Accuracy Resolution

Kewtech KT203 clamp meter 0–400.0 V ± 1.5%rdg ± 5dgt 0.1 V

0–40.00 A ± 3.0%rdg ± 8dgt 0.01 A
Lutron LM-81AM anemometer 0.4–30.0 m/s ± 3% F.S. 0.1 m/s
HTC-2 thermo-hygrothermograph −50 °C–70 °C ± 1 °C 0.1 °C
10%–99% ± 5% 1%
Lutron BTM-4208SD K-type thermometer −100 °C–1300 °C ± 0.4% + 1 °C 1 °C
Danfoss AKS-32R pressure transmittera −1– 12 bar ± 0.3% F.S. 0.01 psi
Danfoss AKS 11-PT1000 superheat sensora −50 °C–100 °C – 0.1 °C
Asian first pressure gauge −1– 18 bar – 0.5 bar
Graduated cylinder 0–100 mL – 1 mL

a
Logged with EIM-336 EEV drive.

4
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

The subcooled liquid exiting the evaporative condenser undergoes

an isenthalpic process by passing through the electronic expansion
valve.
hr4 = hr5 (7)
The gained output ratio can be obtained by dividing the latent heat
of produced freshwater to total input energy of the system as [11, 26,
27]:
mfw hfg
GOR =
Wcompressor + Wfan + Wwater pump (8)
The cooling capacity of a compressor, its required input power and
current consumption for given evaporator and condenser saturation
temperatures can be estimated by various polynomial functions of sa­
turation temperatures of evaporator and condenser, provided by the
manufacturer via Danfoss Coolselector®2 software:

Qe
= c 0,e + c1,e Te + c 2,e Tc + c3,e T2e + c4,e TeTc + c5,e T2c + c6,e T3e + c7,e T2e
Tc + c8,e TeT2c + c 9,e T3c (9)

Wc
= c 0,w + c1,w Te + c2,w Tc + c3,w T 2e + c 4,w TeTc + c5,w T 2c + c 6,w T3e + c7,w T 2e Tc + c8,w Te
T 2c + c 9,w T3c
Ic
= c 0,i + c1,i Te + c 2,i Tc + c3,i T2e + c4,i TeTc + c5,i T2c + c6,i T3e + c7,i T2e
Tc + c8,i TeT2c + c 9,i T3c
To explain more, the constants in these equations are provided by
the compressor manufacturer. By having evaporator and condenser
saturation temperatures and substituting in Eqs. (9) to (11), cooling
capacity (Eq. (9)), compressor power (Eq. (10)), and also compressors'
current consumption (Eq. (11)) can be estimated without the need for
measurement. In this study, these equations were used to compare the
estimated values from the aforementioned equations with the true ex­
perimentally measured values. More details on the utilization of the
compressor characteristic polynomials, can be found in [28].
3. Results and discussion
The goal of the present work was to experimentally examine the
performance of a novel compact HDH-HP system using an evaporative
condenser. As summarized in Table 3, system performance was ana­
lyzed by selecting six scenarios with varying ambient wet-bulb tem­
peratures, sprayed mass flow rate of saline water, airflow rates, com­
pressor speeds, and using two electronic expansion valve control
methods.
3.1. Test scenario 1: effect of ambient wet-bulb temperature
The evaporative condensers are wet-bulb sensitive devices in which
the ambient wet-bulb temperature plays a dominant role in the capacity
[28]. Fig. 3 demonstrates the impact of ambient wet-bulb temperature
on the yield and GOR for sprayed saline water and airflow rates of
Fig. 3. The effect of ambient wet-bulb temperature on yield and GOR of the
cycle.
(10)
898.5 kg/h and 67.5 m3/h, respectively. It can be seen that higher
ambient wet-bulb temperature results in higher freshwater productivity
and GOR. As ambient wet-bulb temperatures varied from 16.6 to
(11) 25.1 °C, freshwater productivity and GOR increased by 16.7% and 7.3%
to reach 0.9 kg/h and 1.74, respectively. To explain the impact of
ambient wet-bulb temperature on system performance, p-h and T-S
diagrams are shown in Fig. 4. It is observed that the variation in am­
bient wet-bulb temperature, considerably affects the system perfor­
mance. As the temperature of ambient wet-bulb increases, the tem­
perature of saline water (Tsw), as well as saturation pressure (Pc) and
saturation temperature (Tc) of condensing refrigerant inside the eva­
porative condenser, rise. Therefore, it is indicated that at higher
sprayed water temperatures, the temperature (Ta2) and humidity ratio
(ωa2) of the air at its outlet boost as well. By entering hot and humid air
to the evaporator at higher ambient wet-bulb temperatures, the sa­
turation temperature (Te) and pressure (Pe) of evaporator increase as
well. It is seen that the evaporator (Te) and condenser (Tc) saturation
temperatures respectively change from 8.1 to 12.2 °C and 34.3 to
39.4 °C by increasing the ambient wet-bulb temperature from 16.6 to
25.1 °C. The process of air humidification in the evaporative condenser
(from state a1 to a2) and its dehumidification in the dehumidifying
evaporator (from state a2 to a3) are shown on a psychrometric chart
(Fig. 5) for ambient wet-bulb temperatures of 16.6 and 25.1 °C. It can
be inferred that the temperature of the humid air entering the dehu­
midifying evaporator (Ta2) rises at higher ambient wet-bulb tempera­
tures (Ta1). As an intrinsic property of the psychrometric chart, the
slope of the saturated air curve increases at higher temperatures, which
enhances the capability of humid air to hold more moisture at elevated
temperatures (higher ωa2). Therefore, by raising the ambient wet-bulb
temperature from 16.6 to 25.1 °C, the difference between the humidity

Table 3
A summary of test conditions.
Test scenario Ambient wet-bulb temperature (°C) msw (kg/h) Va (m3/h) Compressor speed (RPM) EEV control mode

1 16.6 to 25.1 898.8 67.5 4000 SH adjustment (6 °C)

2 17.8 195.8 to 898.8 72.9 4000 SH adjustment (6 °C)
3 16.7 898.8 65.5 to 100.3 4000 SH adjustment (6 °C)
4 17.3 195.8 78.7 2500 to 4000 SH adjustment (6 °C)
5 16.5 898.8 66.3 4000 SH adjustment (6 °C to 10 °C)
6 28.7 898.8 69.3 4000 Te adjustment (2 °C to 14 °C)

5
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

Fig. 4. Impact of ambient wet-bulb temperature on the performance of the heat pump. a. p-h diagram and b. T-s diagram.

from 0.62 to 0.9 kg/h via increasing the saline water flow rate from
195.8 to 898.8 kg/h, respectively. At elevated flow rates of saline
water, the relative humidity of air exiting the evaporative condenser
approaches to the saturation state (RH = 100%) causing condensation
as soon as it enters the HP evaporator. At lower saline water mass flow
rates, the relative humidity of the air leaving the evaporative condenser
is reduced, and hence, so much of the cooling load of the dehumidifying
evaporator is used to cool the air (as sensible heat) and reduce its
temperature to dew point instead of producing water. Therefore, less
freshwater was produced at lower saline water flow rates. By increasing
the saline water flowrate, yield and total input power rose by 45.54%
and 6.51%, respectively, resulting in a 36.53% increase in GOR. From
another point of view, the relevant mass flow rate ratios of saline water
to air were depicted in Fig. 6. It can be observed that the ratio of saline
water to airflow rates changes from 2.1 to 10.9 with the change of
saline water flow rate from 195.8 to 898.8 kg/h indicating that raising
the mass flow rate ratio of saline water to air results in better perfor­
mance.

Fig. 5. Psychrometric chart for air process at two different ambient wet-bulb
temperatures.

ratio of air entering/exiting the dehumidifying evaporator (ωa2 − ωa3)

rises from 15.8 to 17.2 g/kg for a constant temperature difference of
8.69 ± 0.04 °C (Ta2-Ta3). In short, at the higher inlet wet-bulb tem­
perature to the evaporative condenser, the dew point rises and, as a
result, increases the amount of moisture in the air to be condensed. As
the studied system is an open-air evaporative condenser based HDH-HP
cycle, it is recommended that the effect of close air system (the re­
turning of the outlet saturated air back to the evaporative condenser)
on productivity be studied in future studies and compared with the
current open-air circuit system performance.

3.2. Test scenario 2: effect of sprayed saline water flow rate

Mass flow rate of sprayed saline water directly affects the humidi­
fication process and saturated temperature of refrigerant (Tc) inside the
evaporative condenser. Variations in yield and GOR of the system were
shown in Fig. 6 for an average ambient wet-bulb temperature of 17.8 °C Fig. 6. Variation of yield and GOR versus saline water flow rate and mass flow
and an airflow rate of 72.9 m3/h. It can be inferred that the yield rose rate ratio.

6
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

3.3. Test scenario 3: effect of airflow rate
The airflow rate is another factor influencing the system perfor­
mance due to its direct impact on both the humidification and dehu­
midification processes. Variation of yield and GOR at different airflow
rates and their relevant mass flow rate ratios was depicted in Fig. 7 for
an average ambient wet-bulb temperature and saline water flow rate of
16.7 °C and 898.8 kg/h, respectively. It can be seen that higher fresh­
water can be achieved at lower airflow rates. For airflow rates of 65.5,
76.9, and 100.3 m3/h, the produced hourly freshwater was 0.80, 0.77,
and 0.71 kg/h, respectively. At the same time, the mass flow rate ratio
of saline water to air falls from 11.9 to 7.7. According to Eq. (1), it may
seem that decreasing the airflow rate results in lower freshwater pro­
duction due to the reduced cooling capacity of the dehumidifying
evaporator, but the opposite is true. It was observed that reducing the
airflow rate led to a more efficient humidification process inside the
evaporative condenser due to the increased humidity of the air. As the
enthalpy (ha2) and absolute humidity (ωa2) of air exiting the evapora­
tive condenser rose by reducing airflow rate, the dehumidification
process over HP evaporator enhanced and more freshwater was pro­
duced. Consequently, a combination of decreasing the airflow rate by
34.7% and increasing the difference between absolute humidity of air
entering/exiting the dehumidifying evaporator (ωa2-ωa3) by 75.1%,
resulted in a 13.6% increase in yield according to Eq. (2). Moreover,
Fig. 7 shows that raising the airflow rate reduces the GOR of the system.
By increasing the airflow rate from 65.5 to 100.3 m3/h (decreasing the
mass flow rate ratio of saline water to air from 11.9 to 7.7), the con­
sumption power of air fan rose by 78.3% to reach 27.4 W, while the
required input power of compressor dropped by 4.6% to 295.8 W. The
combined effect of a 13.6% increase in freshwater production and a
2.4% reduction in total required power, lead to higher values of GOR at
lower airflow rates. The minimum air flow rate in the tests was
achieved by adjusting the fan speed regulator to a ratio of 10%. Further
decrease in its speed adjustment resulted in the fan shut down. There­
fore, lower air flow rates in future studies can be tested with high re­
solution and finer speed control fans to acquire the exact optimal fan
speed value for a given system.
defined as the ratio of heat pump cooling load to the compressor power
input [29]. Since there is an optimal point for the COP of the com­
pressor by changing its speed, having an optimal point for system ef­
ficiency named as gained output ratio (GOR) is not unexpected. The
various working conditions of the heat pump during this study led to
electrical and isentropic efficiencies of 40.9–80.6% and 19.6–40.2%,
respectively. Previous theoretical studies on HDH-HP systems con­
sidered constant efficiencies for the compressor. However, in this study,
a comparison was done between the experimental results and correla­
tions provided by the manufacturer. To further explain this issue, by
knowing the temperatures of the evaporator and condenser and using
polynomial characteristics provided by compressor manufacturer (Eqs.
(9)–(11)), one can estimate the cooling capacity, power input, and
current consumption. These estimated values are compared with the
actual measured values obtained from the experiment in Table 4. The
difference between estimated and measured values (errors) at similar
saturation temperatures of the evaporator (Te) and condenser (Tc) are
reported in Table 4 for compressor speeds of 2500, 3300, and 4000
RPM, respectively. It is apparent that the constants for Eqs. (9)–(11) are
a function of compressor speeds. The experimental value for current
consumption was measured by clamp meter (Table 2), and those for
cooling capacity and power input were calculated by Eqs. (1) and (3),
respectively. It can be seen that higher cooling capacity can be provided
at increased compressor speeds at the expense of higher power and
current consumption. By increasing the compressor speed from 2500 to
4000 RPM, the refrigerant mass flow rate rises from 8.96 to 15.64 kg/h
leading to an increment of 0.43 and 0.74 kW in cooling capacity, re­
spectively. Besides, the required input power increases from 0.15 to
0.31 kW due to the elevated current consumption from 2.82 to 5.97 A.
Comparing the experimental and correlated data (Table 4) reveals that
the cooling capacity correlations over-predicts the experimental data by
8.97% with a standard deviation of ± 5.57%, while the power and
current consumption correlations under-predict the experimental data
by 13.83% and 19.38% with standard deviations of ± 5.12% and ±
4.80%, respectively. This may be attributed to the amount of re­
frigerant charging, heat losses from the evaporator, lubrication of the
compressor, etc. in the experimental setup.

3.4. Test scenario 4: effect of compressor speed

Previous tests for evaluation of ambient wet-bulb temperature,

saline water, and airflow rates were conducted for a fixed compressor
speed of 4000 RPM. As the cooling capacity in a heat pump is a function
of compressor speed, Danfoss BD350GH-48v variable speed compressor
was utilized in the fabricated system. System performance was experi­
mentally studied at various compressor speeds of 2500, 3300, and 4000
RPM and compared with the polynomials provided by Danfoss cool­
selector®2 software for the same saturation temperatures of the eva­
porator (Te) and condenser (Tc). It is worth mentioning that the com­
pressor speed was adjusted by Tool4Cool® Lab-Edition software
through connecting the electronic controller of the compressor via
Danfoss One Wire/LIN gateway to a laptop. In Fig. 8, the impact of
compressor speed on yield and GOR is illustrated. The ambient wet-
bulb temperature, saline water, and airflow rates were kept constant at
average values of 17.3 °C, 195.8 kg/h, and 78.7 m3/h, respectively. It is
evident that the freshwater productivity rises from 0.33 to 0.67 kg/h by
altering the compressor speed from 2500 to 4000 RPM. This can be
attributed to the higher achievable cooling capacities at elevated
compressor speeds, which is in accordance with the datasheet provided
by the manufacturer of the compressor [29]. Regarding the GOR, it is
noticeable that a maximum value of 1.72 could be achieved at 3300
RPM. An optimum in GOR at different compressor speeds can be at­
tributed to the simultaneous contribution of change in the numerator
(yield) and denominator (power input of compressor) according to the
Eq. (8). The same trend can be observed in the datasheet of the com­
pressor in terms of the heat pump coefficient of performance (COP), Fig. 7. Variation of yield and GOR versus airflow rate and mass flow rate ratio.

7
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

Average error (%)

−13.83 ± 5.12

−19.38 ± 4.8
8.97 ± 5.57
Deviation (%)

4.41
5.70

−17.92
−16.95
−12.62
−23.22
−22.31
16.82

−6.60
Correlation

0.50
0.66
0.79
0.14
0.19
0.26
2.46
3.34
4.64
Experiment

0.43
0.63
0.74
0.15
0.23
0.31
2.82
4.35
5.97
9.72E−06
1.32E−05
1.79E−05
0.000112
0.000143

0.000545
0.000739
0.00017
Fig. 8. The impact of compressor speed on yield and GOR.

0.001
c9
3.5. Test scenario 5: effect of superheat adjustment by the electronic

−6.3E−05

−9.6E−05
−4.5E−05
−6.2E−05
−8.3E−05
−8.1E−07
−1.1E−06
−1.5E−06
expansion valve

−8E−05
Electronic expansion valves afford a fast, precise, and stable control

c8
in heat pump systems due to their various advance active control

1.42E−05
1.92E−05
−0.00163
−0.00207
−0.00247
0.000793
0.001076
0.001456

2.6E−05
methods. The electronic expansion valve works in conjunction with a
superheat controller, which processes the data read out by EEV tem­
c7

perature sensor and pressure transducer mounted at the dehumidifying

evaporator outlet (Table 2) and controls the EEV opening degree and

−4.5E−06
−6.1E−06
−8.3E−06
−0.00025
−0.00034
−0.00046
0.001487
0.001773
refrigerant mass flow rate according to the adjusted and measured su­
0.00117

perheat value. The Danfoss EIM-336 superheat controller was used for
c6

controlling the operation of the Danfoss ETS6–08 electronic expansion

valve in the current study. This controller was chosen due to its superior
−0.00769
−0.00978
−0.01165
−0.06403
−0.08687

−0.00114
−0.00155
−0.1176

capability of precise controlling the refrigerant flow rate at variable −0.0021

cooling loads via different control modes [30]. The superheat control
c5

mechanism of the EEV is based on a fact that for a given fixed-size

0.001243
0.001686
0.002283
0.06959
−0.1474
−0.1873
−0.2234

0.0944
0.1278

evaporator and a fixed airflow rate, the electronic expansion valve can't
operate with a fixed refrigerant mass flow rate at higher adjusted su­
A comparison between experimental and correlated data at different compressor speeds.
c4

perheats due to the shortage of heat transfer area (dehumidifying sur­

face area for heat transfer is fixed). Therefore, at higher superheats the
−0.04022
−0.05458
−0.07388
−0.00072
−0.00097
−0.00132
0.2739
0.3479
0.4149

EEV closes to elevate the pressure difference across it and results in

increased temperature difference between the inlet air (state a2) and
c3

saturated temperature of the dehumidifying evaporator (Te) to achieve

0.088503
0.06523

0.11981
4.9565
−6.0305

the desired high superheat. The drop-in opening degree of the EEV at
3.653

6.709
−4.747

−7.192

higher superheats is equivalent to reduced refrigerant mass flow rate,

c2

decreased saturated temperature and pressure of evaporator, and de­

creased cooling load. In the same way, the principle of EEV operation at
−0.72225

1.076548 −0.00951

1.520883 −0.01746
−0.5323

−0.9777

1.203045 −0.0129
26.025

lower superheats can be analyzed. This principle was observed and

20.48

31.03

validated in the current study as well. Fig. 9 demonstrates the effect of

c1

superheat adjustment in heat pump performance for an ambient wet-

bulb temperature of 16.5 °C, a saline water flow rate of 898.8 kg/h, and
707.95

60.29
67.37
85.17

an airflow rate of 66.5 m3/h. It can be seen that the refrigerant mass
558

838
c0

flow rate, EEV opening degree, and evaporator saturation temperature

drop at higher superheats. The saturation temperature of the dehumi­
Compressor speed (RPM)

difying evaporator is influenced by the operation of the electronic ex­

pansion valve due to the change of superheating and mass flow rate of
refrigerant. It was observed that by increasing the superheat from 6.3 to
10.7 °C, freshwater yield dropped from 0.81 to 0.75 kg/h due to a 8.2%
reduction in mass flow rate of the heat pump refrigerant. Because of the
2500
3300
4000
2500
3300
4000
2500
3300
4000

lower heat transfer coefficient in the superheated region of the eva­

porator, the electronic expansion valve decreases the mass flow rate of
Parameter

refrigerant at higher superheats to produce fast cooling at lower sa­

Table 4

turation temperatures of the evaporator [31]. The suction temperature

rises from 15.3 to 18.2 °C by increasing the superheat from 6.3 to
Wc
Qe

8
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

Fig. 9. Effect of superheat adjustment via EEV on heat pump performance.

Fig. 10. A comparison between measured and adjusted superheat (SH).

Fig. 12. A comparison between adjusted and measured evaporator saturation

temperatures.

Table 5
Cost of the system constituents.
Constituents Cost ($)

Compressor 330
Electronic expansion valve 41
EEV pressure transmitter 99
EEV drive 149
EEV superheat sensor 32
Fan 172
Evaporative condenser 150
Evaporator 60
Water pump 23
DC converters, etc. 30
Total equipment cost 1087

Fig. 11. Effect of evaporator saturation temperature on yield and GOR.

slow responding speed and the low precision of thermal expansion
valves associated with the adoption of the mechanical control method
10.7 °C, which may lead to overheating of the compressor and poor
highlight the importance of utilizing the electronic expansion valves
system performance (Fig. 9). On the other hand, a further drop in the
[32]. A comparison between the adjusted and experimentally measured
superheating led to instabilities in the evaporator and misfunction of
superheat among the 112 tests at various ambient wet-bulb tempera­
the compressor due to the possible entrainment of the liquid refrigerant
tures, the sprayed saline water flow rate, airflow rate, and compressor
into it. Therefore, it is desirable to adjust the minimum stable superheat
speeds were shown in Fig. 10. It is observed that the Danfoss-ETS608
both in view point of energy efficiency and compressor lifetime. The
electronic expansion valve and EIM 336 superheat controller

9
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii Desalination 496 (2020) 114733

Table 6 It can be inferred that for evaporator saturation temperatures of 2 to

Economic analysis of the fabricated system. 8 °C the controller sets the evaporator saturation temperatures with a
Parameters Unit Current study maximum root mean square error of 0.08. For the evaporator saturation
temperature of 14 °C, the controller well-match the adjusted value with
Principle cost (P) $ 1087 a root mean square error of 0.01 at higher ambient wet-bulb tem­
Salvage value (S) (10% of principle value) $ 108.7
peratures. However, there exists a deviation for the evaporator sa­
Life of the system (n) Yrs. 20 years
interest rate (i) % 10
turation temperature of 14 °C at lower ambient wet-bulb temperatures.
Capital recovery factor (CRF) – 0.117 This can be attributed to the EEV algorithms to avoid entering liquid
Sink fund factor (SFF) – 0.017 refrigerant to the compressor as well as the combined effect of input
Annual first cost (AFC = CRF ∗ P) $ 127.160 operational conditions and heat exchanger geometry in system perfor­
Annual salvage value (ASV = SFF ∗ S) $ 1.848
mance. It is good to note that there exists a safety control algorithm in
Annual maintenance cost (AMC = 0.15 annual first cost) $ 19.074
Annual current cost (ACC = CC × Power) $ 38.474 the controller named as maximum operating pressure function that
Annual cost = (AFC + AMC + ACC-ASV) $ 182.861 takes precedence over both the superheat control and evaporator sa­
Average daily yield L 25.920 turation temperature control modes to reduce the probable extra cur­
Annual yield (average daily yield ∗ 365) L 9460.800
rent to the compressor. In conclusion, it was observed that the cooling
Cost per liter (CPL = Annual cost/Annual yield) $/L 0.019
capacity of the system increases at higher saturated temperatures of the
evaporator due to its higher refrigerant flow rate in spite of the lower
successfully controls the superheat in the proposed cycle with a root temperature difference potential (Ta2-Te). Therefore, utilization of the
mean square error of 0.52 at different operational conditions. Te control mode at higher adjusted Te values results in more freshwater
production.
3.6. Test scenario 6: effect of saturated evaporator temperature adjustment
by the electronic expansion valve 4. Economic analysis

In addition to the superheat control mode used in previous tests, the
EIM-336 controller has a distinct feature of a separate PI control of the
evaporator saturation temperature (Te) for dehumidifying applications
such as the proposed cycle in the current study. At a lower adjusted
saturated temperature of the evaporator, the opening degree of the
valve decreases to provide higher pressure reduction. This results in
lower refrigerant mass flow rate and cooling capacity of the dehumi­
difying evaporator. To explain more, the negative impact of the re­
duction in refrigerant mass flow rate caused by adjusting a lower sa­
turated temperature on cooling capacity and water productivity is far
greater than the resulting positive effect of the higher temperature
difference between the inlet air (state a2) and saturated temperature of
the evaporator (Te). Effect of adjusting the evaporator saturation tem­
perature via EEV controller on yield and GOR of the system is depicted
in Fig. 11 for an average ambient wet-bulb temperature of 28.7 °C,
saline water, and airflow rates of 898.8 kg/h and 69.3 m3/h at a
compressor speed of 4000 RPM. It is evident that by increasing the
evaporator saturation temperature from 2 to 14 °C, the freshwater
production rose from 0.61 to 1.08 kg/h. This can be attributed to the
57.1% increase in the EEV opening degree and 80.3% rise in the re­
frigerant mass flow rate. Consequently, the cooling capacity increases
from 0.11 to 0.55 kW by altering the adjusted evaporator saturation
temperature from 2 to 14 °C. It is worth mentioning that according to
the manufactures datasheet, the maximum allowable saturated tem­
perature of the BD-350GH 48v compressor used in this study was re­
ported to be 15 °C [29]. Further increase in the evaporator saturation
temperatures results in failure of compressor electrical coil and damage
of its electromotor. Also, the minimum allowable temperature must be
greater than zero to avoid freezing on the evaporator coil. A comparison
between adjusted and measured evaporator saturation temperatures for
55 tests is shown in Fig. 12 at different ambient wet-bulb temperatures.
The economic analysis of the fabricated system was carried out
based on the reference [33]. The cost of system components is reported
in Table 5. It can be seen that the total equipment cost of the fabricated
system is 1087 $, in which the compressor and electronic expansion
valve own approximately 30% of the total equipment cost.
Table 6 represents a summary of the conducted economic analysis.
By considering a daily operation and current cost of CC = 0.012$/
(kWh) [8], the cost of freshwater for the current study is 0.019 $/L. A
comparison between various experimental studies on HDH-HP systems
is shown in Table 7. It can be seen that most of the previous HDH-HP
systems were used several heat exchangers, while the current study
intended to fabricate and test the performance of a novel HDH-HP
system with just two heat exchangers. The principle operation and
design of the previous HDH-HP systems that utilize separate heat ex­
changers i.e., the humidifiers, heat pump condensers, air/water heaters,
etc. are well known. However, the compact evaporative condenser
based HDH-HP system proposed in this work still needs to be modified
to reach enhanced performance with lower costs. As indicated in
Table 7, the freshwater production of the fabricated system is 1.08 kg/
h, which is the minimum yield among previous studies. The reason for
this behavior is that productivity is a function of the cooling load
provided by the system compressor. The Danfoss BD-350GH 48v com­
pressor used in the current system is a small compressor with less than
1 kW cooling load. This is worth mentioning that the HDH-HP cycles
are mainly utilized in remote areas, where providing the electrical en­
ergy from the main utility grid would be a challenging problem.
Therefore, the DC compressor used in the current system gives an ad­
ditional option of being powered by photovoltaic panels. However, to
analyze the system performance in various input conditions, the re­
quired DC electrical current of the system was supplied by an AC to DC
converter in all of the tests. It is evident that by using larger

Table 7
A comparison between various experimental studies on HDH-HP systems.
Ref. Year Type of heat pump condenser No. of heat exchangers GOR Yield (kg/h) CPL ($/L)

Amin & Hawlader [36] 2015 Water-cooled 5 0.43–0.88 1.38 –

Zhang et al. [16] 2018 Water-cooled 6 2.05 22.26 0.05
Xu et al. [18] 2018 Water-cooled 6 1.24 12.75 0.03
Shafii et al. [21] 2018 Air-cooled 3 2.08 2.79 0.01
Xu et al. [19] 2019 Water-cooled 8 1.93 17.45 0.03
Zhang et al. [26] 2019 Water-cooled 5 2.57 29.2 0.04–0.14
Current study 2020 Evaporative condenser 2 2.00 1.08 0.019

10
M. Faegh and M.B. Shafii
compressors, the provided cooling load and daily freshwater production
increase as well. Therefore, the dimensionless GOR values were re­
ported in Table 7 to compare the performance of different HDH-HP
cycles better. It can be observed that the GOR of the current setup
reaches 2.00, which is one of the highest values of the table compared
to those of previous HDH-HP systems. It is estimated that by designing
large-scale modified prototypes in future studies, the ratio of losses to
useful energy of the system drops, and much higher GOR values can be
attained. The CPL of the current system reached 0.019 $/L, according to
Table 7. The obtained lower CPL compared to most of the previous
systems may be attributed to fewer heat exchangers. This is good to
note that all of the electrical components utilized in this study were DC
devices that have the capability of being powered by solar photovoltaic
panels. Commercial DC refrigeration compressors are generally small-
sized, and a limited range of products are available for selection. It was
observed that using small scale compressor led to lower productivity, it
is recommended to investigate the performance of larger capacity AC
compressors in the future. According to a general rule, the cost of a
compressor increases non-linearly with its capacity [34]. Therefore,
utilizing larger compressors not only will boost the daily yield sig­
nificantly but also result in much lower production costs. Besides, the
prices for electronic expansion valves remain almost constant by in­
creasing the refrigeration capacity up to an extend according to the
Danfoss list pricing [35]. Therefore, by designing large-scale systems
and conducting more detailed economic analysis as done in [11], the
current cycle may attain more commercial attention in the future.
5. Conclusion
A novel compact design was proposed for integrating a humidifi­
cation-dehumidification cycle with a heat pump and was studied ex­
perimentally. The condenser of the heat pump was utilized as both the
conventional humidifier and heating source of the HDH cycle. This was
done by exploiting an evaporative condenser in an HDH-HP cycle for
the first time. Moreover, the evaporator of the heat pump was used as
the sole dehumidifier of the fabricated system. The influence of various
parameters as ambient wet-bulb temperature, flow rate of spraying
saline water in the evaporative condenser, airflow rate, compressor
speed, superheat, and evaporator saturation temperature control modes
of the electronic expansion valve was examined on the system perfor­
mance. The following results were obtained:
• The highest yield, GOR, and CPL of the current system for an
average wet-bulb temperature of 28.1 °C sprayed saline water flow
rate of 898.8 kg/h, airflow rate of 83.8 m3/h, compressor speed of
4000 RPM and EEV evaporator saturation temperature adjustment
of 14.05 °C, were achieved as 1.08 kg/h, 2.00, and, 0.019$/L, re­
spectively.
• Higher ambient wet-bulb temperatures and sprayed saline water
flow rate resulted in more produced freshwater and GOR, while the
opposite occurred for the airflow rate.
• By analyzing the system performance at various compressor speeds
of 2500, 3300, and 4000 RPM, it was shown that increasing the
compressor speed raises the freshwater productivity. This occurred
because of increased refrigerant mass flow rate and heat pump
cooling load at higher compressor speeds.
•
The experimental data were compared with correlated data of
Danfoss coolselector®2 characteristic polynomials. It was observed
that the cooling capacity correlations over-predicts the experimental
data by 8.97% with a standard deviation of ± 5.57%, while the
power and current consumption correlations under-predict the data
by 13.83% and 19.38% with standard deviations of ± 5.12%
and ± 4.8%, respectively.
It was concluded that higher freshwater was produced by increasing
the adjusted evaporator saturation temperature from 2 °C to 14 °C, due
11
Desalination 496 (2020) 114733
to the increased cooling capacity at higher evaporator temperature.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ­
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to declare their appreciation to the Deputy
for Research and Technology of Sharif University of Technology and
Sharif Energy Research Institute (SERI) for supporting this research
study.
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