This application is a 371 of International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2018/053841, filed May 30, 2018, which claims benefit of Italian Patent Application No. 102017000060109, filed to the Italy Patent Office on Jun. 1, 2017, entitled “Dew Point Climate Generator and Corresponding Climate Conditioning Method,” contents of both of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL SECTOR

The present invention falls, in general, in the field of climate conditioning systems for environments, and in particular the invention refers to a dew point climate generator and a corresponding climate conditioning method adapted to produce a flow of air at controlled temperature and relative humidity values.

PRIOR ART

Traditional conditioning systems for environments usually use an air cooling and condensing battery, an adiabatic saturator and two heating batteries, one upstream and one downstream of the adiabatic saturator, respectively.

In various types of climatic chambers known in the art, vapor is produced directly by a vaporizer.

Such systems have a modest energy efficiency and control accuracy of the conditioning system.

Such systems may be improved if they are equipped with modulating valves, which allow one to control the recirculation of the air and to partialize the flows of air, so as to increase the energy efficiency and the control accuracy. Despite this improvement, the energy efficiency and control accuracy remain non-optimal.

Moreover, in traditional dry-exchange heating batteries, in many operating conditions the components of a traditional air-conditioning system work in opposition, with negative consequences on the stability and efficiency of the system itself.

Another example of a climate conditioning system of the prior art are the systems used for conditioning display cabinets or museum cases. In such systems, passive control systems are often used consisting of buffers of suitably conditioned hygroscopic substances (e.g. silica gels). Despite advantages linked to simplicity and affordability, there are disadvantages due to the impossibility of controlling the temperature inside the display cabinet, as well as operating time limits that require frequent interventions to recondition the hygroscopic substances.

Furthermore, in the known air-conditioning systems, simplified active systems are usually used with a single cooling battery, for example a Peltier cell, which, in addition to having a very low efficiency, acts only as a cooling and dehumidification system with the obvious resulting operating limits and poor or non-existent temperature control.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objects of the present invention are therefore to provide a climate generator and a climate conditioning process thereof for a flow of air with set temperature and stable humidity conditions when exiting, having less complexity, greater reliability, lower production cost and reduced maintenance requirements compared to the prior art.

The aforesaid objects are achieved by a climate generator having the features defined in claim1and by a climate conditioning process thereof having the features defined in claim10.

Particular embodiments are object of the dependent claims, the content of which is to be understood as an integral part of the present description.

In summary, the present invention is based on the principle of controlling the climatic parameters of temperature and humidity of an environment through the production of a flow of air having the target temperature and relative humidity values, wherein the target temperature and relative humidity values are achieved by bringing a flow of air to be conditioned, of which the temperature and relative humidity values are unknown, to its dew point corresponding to a predetermined controlled temperature—different from the target temperature—and reaching the target level of relative humidity in the flow of air by heating the supply flow of air at the dew point from the controlled temperature to the target temperature.

At the target relative temperature and relative humidity values the mixture of air (air-vapor) thus defined has a determined dew point temperature.

Therefore, in order to obtain the target relative temperature and relative humidity values for the flow of air, the necessary amount of vapor is achieved by saturating the flow of air at the dew point temperature through a latent/sensitive thermodynamic transformation. The saturated air (100% relative humidity) and the dew point temperature is therefore heated to the target temperature (undergoing a second sensitive thermodynamic transformation) and consequently the relative humidity decreases to the target relative humidity value. The saturation step at the dew point takes place in a bubbler where there is water at a controlled temperature so as to bring the flow of air to the temperature corresponding to its dew point. The control is then carried out simply by controlling two temperatures: the temperature of the water in the bubbler and the target temperature. The target relative humidity is a function of the difference between the dew point temperature and the target temperature. The system therefore does not require relative humidity sensors to control the relative humidity, as it likewise does not require a condenser plus a saturator for regulating the relative humidity, since the bubbler, whatever the characteristics of the incoming air (to be conditioned), provides for introducing the right amount of vapor by condensing or releasing vapor.

Advantageously, a climate generator according to the invention may be sized to work with even high latent or sensitive thermal loads, or it may be miniaturized to operate in small environments such as display cabinets or museum cases.

The climate generator of the invention also allows air free of dust and other pollutants in the solid and gaseous phase to be obtained.

With a simple construction variant, the climate generator object of the invention may advantageously operate as a dynamic climate conditioning system which allows very rapid, almost instantaneous humidity variations to be performed under isothermal conditions.

