Paper No 026 – Active humidity control for refrigeration applications – 13th IEA Heat Pump Conference, Jeju, Korea
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, approximately 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted per year around the world [1], leading to excess energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions. It is important to control all aspects of spoilage, including food storage during refrigeration. Maintaining adequate humidity levels during the storage of foods is essential to increasing their shelf life. In this paper we describe a solid-state method of humidity control based on an electrolysis cell, a derivative technology of fuel cells. The technology operates by interacting with moisture in the air, leading to a novel method of simple and accurate control of humidity levels inside an enclosure such as a refrigerator. It requires no maintenance, is quiet, and takes up very little space in a refrigerator. Current technology is limited to one-way operation, either as a humidifier or dehumidifier, and requires either a drain of liquid water for dehumidification or a source of water for humidification. The system can work in conjunction with a heat pump to manage moisture levels inside a refrigerator. Real life, in-situ performance data is provided.