• Energy Research

Abstract Enthalpy exchangers using hydrophile membrane cores, are attractive devices to replace regular heat exchangers in ventilating systems. Among the various experimental and numerical works carried out in air-to-air exchangers, the present study is carried out to numerically investigate a plate module enthalpy exchanger channeled with separator blades. The simulation is conducted by the development of a user-defined function (UDF) using a CFD tool. Sensible and latent effectiveness, water emission rate, energy recovery, and pressure drop are the performance parameters investigated depending on different system characteristics and operating conditions, including the number of channels on each side, air flow rate, and flow configuration. In the co-current design, due to the small zone involved in mass and heat transfer, channeling and the change in flow rate do not affect the effectiveness. In the counterflow design, 10 m3/h was the highest flow rate, which showed the multi-channel system's superiority. Channeling was not beneficial at higher flow rates due to a large number of stagnation points and maldistribution caused by the separator blades. However, the comparison at the same velocity and Re number leads to the multi-channel system's superiority due to the longer residence time.