Humidification is the chemical process of transforming water into vapor. These vapors can be emitted as either warm or cool air (steam vs. mist). In order to take the necessary steps to protect against the culmination of bacteria in your home or work environment, first we must understand how the process works, what RODI water is, and how these two work together.
Isothermal vs. Adiabatic Humidification
There are many uses for humidifiers — you may use the system to get rid of dry environments in your home or office, to produce clean breathable air, or to fight bacteria that float around, invisible to the naked eye. In order to maintain relative humidity, RH, it is important to know exactly how the system works.
Steam generating humidifiers (isothermal) and high-pressure atomizing (adiabatic) humidifiers are the two different types of humidification processes. With isothermal humidification, the water vapor is dispersed in the air after having been created by boiling water. In the commercial HVAC world, isothermal humidification has been used most commonly for applications such as: steam-to-steam, gas-to-steam, electric steam, infra-red, and direct steam injection.
With adiabatic humidification, the water goes through a fine process to atomize it. The water is then released into the air. The main difference between the two is that there is no involvement of thermal energy from external sources, so the water that is released is a cool mist, rather than a hot steam. This advantages of this over isothermal humidification is that it saves significant energy, is easy to install and retrofit, simple to operate and maintain, and most important, will give you precise humidity control.
What Really is RO/DI Water?
Reverse osmosis (RO) water is a type of water that has been forced through a special membrane under pressure. This process produces water that is about 98% free of total dissolved solids. DI water (deionized water) is purified with all ions removed. These ions may include positive ions such as sodium, calcium, iron, copper, and negative ions such as chloride and bromide.
Another aspect of water to think about is the conductivity of it. Water has the ability to conduct an electric current in its normal state. However, when it becomes processed to be RO/DI water, it loses ions that can present any conductivity, which means it is much more safe when going through the humidification process. These types of waters are also perfect in preventing damage to humidification systems, especially from rust, bacteria collection, static energy, and formation of dust in the system.
How Does RODI Water and Ultra Sonic Humidification Work?
As a general overview, ultra sonic humidifiers uses ultrasonic waves to create a fine and cooled mist through cavitation in the water. This process emits a mist that is free of any impurities (ions, vitamins…etc) with the use of RO/DI water. This helps in settings that require pure water cooling to prevent any sort of electrostatic discharge, creation of white dust, and formation of contamination and bacteria – respectively, in data centers, manufacturing, and hospitals/labs.
Click here to read about the 7 Tips to Control Threats of Data Center Contamination
For additional information on if ultrasonic humidification is for you or your company, be sure to leave us a message and we can provide our expertise on which humidification system is best for you, or answer any other RO/DI and humidification questions that you may have. In the mean time, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter where we send weekly emails on tips/tricks, support, and any industry related news that can benefit you and your company.
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