<div>Liquid desiccant air dehumidification (LDAD) is a promising substitute for the conventional dehumidification systems that use mechanical cooling. However, the LDAD system shares a little market because of its high installation cost, carryover problem, and severe corrosion problem caused by the conventional liquid desiccant. The research reported in this thesis aimed to address these challenges by applying membrane technology and ionic liquid desiccants (ILDs) in LDAD. The membrane technology uses semi-permeable materials to separate the air and liquid desiccants, therefore, the solution droplets cannot enter into the air stream to corrode the metal piping and degrade the air quality. The ILDs are synthesized salts in the liquid phase, with a large dehumidification capacity but no corrosion problems. In order to study the applicability and performance of these two technologies, both experimental and modeling investigations were made as follows.</div><div>In the study, experimental researches and existing models on the membrane-based LDAD (MLDAD) was extensively reviewed with respects of the characteristics of liquid desiccants and membranes, the module design, the performance assessment and comparison, as well as the modeling methods for MLDAD.</div><div>A small-scale prototype of the MLDAD was tested by using ILD in controlled conditions to characterize its performance in Oak Ridge National Lab. The preliminary experimental results indicated that the MLDAD was able to dehumidify the air and the ILD could be regenerated at 40 ºC temperature. However, the latent effectiveness is relatively lower compared with conventional LDAD systems, and the current design was prone to leakage, especially under the conditions of high air and solution flow rates.</div><div>To improve the dehumidification performance of our MLDAD prototype, the two-dimensional numerical heat and mass transfer models were developed for both porous and nonporous membranes based on the microstructure of the membrane material. The finite element method was used to solve the equations in MATLAB. The models for porous and nonporous membranes were validated by the experimental data available from literature and our performance test, respectively. The validated models were able to predict the performance of the MLDAD module and conduct parametric studies to identify the optimal material selection, design, and operation of the MLDAD.</div><div><br></div>

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A mathematical model is developed to study the coupled heat and moisture transfer through a fabric system that consists of a single layer of fabric and an air gap. Properties of air and moisture are sensitive to temperature and hence are assumed to be functions of local temperature. Therefore the model is applicable to a broad range of boundary conditions. A numerical scheme is proposed to solve the distributions of temperature and moisture concentration throughout the layers, from which the thermal and evaporative resistances of the fabric system can be evaluated. Experiments are conducted for two particular fabrics using a sweating guarded hotplate, and the data show good agreement with the model predictions. Using this model, the effects of parameters in environmental conditions, air gap and material properties on the thermal and evaporative resistances are studied. This work provides fundamental basis for the optimization of garment fit and material properties to achieve good performance for the clothing system.

This work is a multi-scale effort to confront the rapidly evolving threat of biological weapons attacks through improved bioaerosol surveillance, detection, and response capabilities. The effects of bioaerosol release characteristics, transport in the atmospheric surface layer, and implications for bioaerosol sampler design and real-time detection were studied to develop risk assessment and modeling tools to enhance our ability to respond to biological weapons attacks. A simple convection-diffusion-sedimentation model was formulated and used to simulate atmospheric bioaerosol dispersion. Model predictions suggest particles smaller than 60 micrometers in aerodynamic diameter (AD) are likely to be transported several kilometers from the source. A five fold increase in effective mass collection rate, a significant bioaerosol detection advantage, is projected for samplers designed to collect particles larger than the traditional limit of 10 micrometers AD when such particles are present in the source distribution. A family of dynamically scaled wetted-wall bioaerosol sampling cyclones (WWC) was studied to provide bioaerosol sampling capability under various threat scenarios. The effects of sampling environment, i.e. air conditions, and air flow rate on liquid recovery rate and response time were systematically studied. The discovery of a critical liquid input rate parameter enabled the description of all data with self-similar relationships. Empirical correlations were then integrated into system control algorithms to maintain microfluidic liquid output rates ideally suited for advanced biological detection technologies. Autonomous ambient air sampling with an output rate of 25 microliters per minute was achieved with open-loop control. This liquid output rate corresponds to a concentration rate on the order of 2,000,000, a substantial increase with respect to other commercially available bioaerosol samplers. Modeling of the WWC was performed to investigate the underlying physics of liquid recovery. The set of conservative equations governing multiphase heat and mass transfer within the WWC were formulated and solved numerically. Approximate solutions were derived for the special cases of adiabatic and isothermal conditions. The heat and mass transfer models were then used to supplement empirical correlations. The resulting semi-empirical models offer enhanced control over liquid concentration factor and further enable the WWC to be deployed as an autonomous bioaerosol sampler. / text