An experimental investigation of a mass exchanger for transferring water vapour and inhibiting the transfer of other gases.

A definitive experimental investigation has been performed to determine the transfer characteristics of a new type of mass exchanger. The exchanger was designed to perform the dual functions of transferring water across its walls with a high degree of effectiveness while preventing the transport of other gaseous species. The heart of the exchanger is a novel permeable material synthesized by depositing an extremely thin polymer film atop a sheet of a common mass transferring polymer substrate. It was demonstrated that the synthesized composite-membrane sheets could be fashioned into modules and stacked to form a cross-flow mass exchanger. Two sets of experiments were performed to investigate the mass transfer characteristics of the exchanger for water vapour transfer.