Corrosion Monitoring in Dehumidified Storage Facilities

Dehumidified storage areas are designed to eliminate moisture and thereby corrosion damage.  High humidity may also lead to condensation on electronic components leading to unnecessary repairs or replacements.  The goal of a dehumidified storage system is to keep the relative humidity (RH) below a certain level (50%) whereby the adverse effects of humidity (rust, condensation, mold and mildew) are greatly reduced or eliminated.  In this study, monitoring sensors were placed inside storage facilities with and without a dehumidification system.  The corrosion rate versus relative humidity were measured and compared to conditions that were outside the storage facility.  The results of the program show that depending on the time of year (and/or geographical location) the relative humidity was low both inside and outside the storage facility and indicate when dehumidification systems was necessary or not.