Patent ID: 8875540

Claim:
A humidity control apparatus that comprises a refrigerant circuit including a compressor, and a first adsorption heat exchanger and a second adsorption heat exchanger, each of which has an adsorbent for adsorbing moisture of air supported thereon, and circulating refrigerant to perform a vapor compression refrigerant cycle, wherein the refrigerant circuit further includes a four-way switching valve configured to switch between a first operation and a second operation, where in the first operation, refrigerant discharged from the compressor condenses in the first adsorption heat exchanger and refrigerant evaporated in the second adsorption heat exchanger is sucked into the compressor, and in the second operation, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor condenses in the second adsorption heat exchanger and refrigerant evaporated in the first adsorption heat exchanger is sucked into the compressor, and a sensible heat exchanger, where in the first operation, the sensible heat exchanger is located downstream of the second adsorption heat exchanger to be supplied with gas single phase refrigerant flowing out of the second adsorption heat exchanger, whereas in the second operation, the sensible heat exchanger is located downstream of the first adsorption heat exchanger to be supplied with gas single phase refrigerant flowing out of the first adsorption heat exchanger, and the refrigerant circuit is configured to perform cooling and humidifying operation in which the first operation and the second operation are alternately repeated such that in the first operation, air humidified in the first adsorption heat exchanger and then cooled in the sensible heat exchanger is supplied into a room, and in the second operation, air humidified in the second adsorption heat exchanger and then cooled in the sensible heat exchanger is supplied into the room.