Frosting in air-to-air energy exchangers is a common problem when the outdoor air temperature is very low. Membrane-based air-to-air energy exchangers which are capable of moisture transfer as well as sensible heat transfer may assist in overcoming frosting. To understand the effect of water vapor transfer on frosting, laboratory experiments are conducted to investigate the frosting conditions for two geometrically identical air-to-air cross-flow plate exchangers. One exchanger is made with a water vapor permeable membrane (energy exchanger), while the other exchanger is made with an impermeable polymer film with similar thickness (heat exchanger).
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