Small-Capacity Solar Cooling System by Desiccant Cooling Technology

태양열 이용 소용량 제습냉방시스템

A prototype of the desiccant cooling system with a regenerative evaporative cooler was built and tested for the performance evaluation. The regenerative evaporative cooler is to cool a stream of air using evaporative cooling effect without an inc6rease in the humidity ratio. It is comprised of multiple pairs of dry and wet channels and the evaporation water is supplied only to the wet channels. By redirecting a portion of the air flown out of the dry channel into the wet channel, the air can be cooled down to a temperature lower than its inlet wet-bulb temperature at the outlet end of the dry channels. Incorporating a regenerative evaporative cooler eliminates the need for deep dehumidification in the desiccant rotor that is necessary to achieve low air temperature in the system with a direct evaporative cooler. Subsequently, the regenerative evaporative cooler enables the use of low temperature heat source to regenerate the dehumidifier permitting the desiccant cooling system more beneficial compared with other thermal driven air conditioners. At the ARI condition with the regeneration temperature of $60^{\circ}C$, the prototype showed the cooling capacity of 4.4 kW and COP of 0.75.