Dehumidifiers are used in many different applications for removing moisture from air. For example, dehumidifiers are used in residential applications to reduce the level of humidity in the air for health reasons. Dehumidifiers are also frequently used in commercial or industrial applications to remove moisture from the air in restoration projects necessitated by flooding or other types of water damage.
A conventional dehumidifier typically includes a refrigeration cycle in which a compressor delivers a hot compressed gas refrigerant to a condenser. The condenser condenses the hot gas refrigerant to a hot liquid refrigerant and delivers the hot liquid refrigerant to an expansion device. The expansion device expands the hot liquid refrigerant to reduce the temperature and pressure of the liquid. The expansion device delivers the cooled liquid refrigerant to an evaporator, and the evaporator evaporates the cooled gas refrigerant. The evaporator returns the cooled gas refrigerant to the compressor to complete the refrigeration cycle. A conventional dehumidifier typically directs airflow over some of these components of the refrigeration cycle to remove the moisture from the air. More specifically, a conventional dehumidifier typically includes an air mover that directs the airflow across the evaporator to cool the airflow below the dew point temperature of the air so that water vapor in the air is condensed to liquid and removed from the air. The air mover can also direct the dehumidified airflow across the condenser to warm the air before the airflow exits the dehumidifier.
One problem associated with conventional dehumidifiers, however, is that it can be difficult to accurately determine the amount of moisture that a dehumidifier removes from the air, which is also known as the dehumidifier performance. More specifically, determining the performance of a dehumidifier can be extremely inaccurate due to the elevated temperature of the airflow exiting the dehumidifier. In certain applications, an erroneous indication of the performance of a dehumidifier can have a significant financial impact. In water restoration projects, for example, property insurers may withhold payment for the use of a dehumidifier if the performance of the dehumidifier does not meet a predetermined level.