Effect of critical parameters on the performance of integrated climate controlled solar desiccant air conditioning system

A remarkable increase in global ambient temperature is resulting in a high demand for human thermal comfort. The space cooling and heating requirements are increasing worldwide. Currently, conventional vapor compression refrigeration systems are dominating the market share in building air conditioning. These systems are high consumers of electrical energy largely dependent on fossil fuels, thus causing global warming. Therefore, there is a dire need for a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for air conditioning, like solar-assisted desiccant evaporative cooling systems. Solar desiccant air conditioning systems are considered alternative solutions due to their separate control of latent and sensible loads. However, the climate conditions strongly influence the performance and output behavior of such systems. In this research, a solar desiccant evaporative cooling system is extensively tested through integration of a specially designed climate-controlled chamber to provide different control input conditions. Detailed experimental analysis is presented in terms of system’s coefficient of performance, cooling capacity, moisture removal rate, dehumidification effectiveness, supply outlet air temperature and outlet air humidity. The results show the maximum coefficient of performance and cooling capacity of the system 1.25 and 2.3 kW, respectively, at a regeneration temperature of 80 °C. At a constant inlet temperature of 30 °C, the moisture removal rate increased from 0.80 g/s to 1.41 g/s, corresponding to an increase in inlet humidity from 12 g/kg to 18 g/kg. Moreover, it is found that by increasing the process inlet temperature from 25 °C to 45 °C, considering constant inlet humidity of 14 g/kg, increases the coefficient of performance from 0.54 to 1.29 and the cooling capacity from 1.01 to 2.18 kW. It can be observed that the solar desiccant evaporative cooling system has proven a significant solution to overcome the humidity and cooling loads to ensure human thermal comfort requirements for diverse climatic conditions.