Experimental Investigation And TRNSYS Simulation Study On A Novel Rotary Desiccant Cooling Cycle Incorporating Isothermal Dehumidification And Regenerative Evaporative Cooling

Rotary desiccant dehumidification air conditioning, using air as working fluid and water as refrigerant and powered by low grade heat source such as solar energy, can control humidity and temperature respectively. So it is environmental, energy-efficiency and comfortable and it is one of the most important technology to control humidity and temperature in manufacture and life. In this paper, a novel rotary desiccant cooling cycle is proposed to break the obstacle of limited sensible heat reduction encountered by conventional desiccant cooling cycle, especially in the case of extreme high humid conditions. This cycle incorporates the technologies of isothermal dehumidification and regenerative evaporative cooling, which can produce chilled water while dehumidify the process air. Experimental investigate and simulation study is made to this novel cycle in this paper.First, the experimental setup of this novel cycle is built and the air conditioning system is tested on Shanghai summer outdoor condition. The test results show that the novel isothermal dehumidification and regenerative evaporative cooling-based rotary desiccant cooling cycle can supply chilled water and effective supply air on each codition, which is of great benefit to breaking the obstacle of limited temperate reduction encountered by conventional desiccant cooling cycle. The novel cycle also good energy utility performance with the thermal coefficient performance index is around 0.7～0.9. The life cycle analysis of the novel air conditioning system shows that isothermal dehumidification and regenerative evaporative cooling-based rotary desiccant air conditioning system have much more predominance of energy-saving, economical and environment-friendly than traditional air conditioning system.Secondly, on the basis of the thermodynamic analysis and experimental investigation, a TRNSYS simulation model of the novel isothermal dehumidification and regenerative evaporative cooling-based rotary desiccant cooling cycle is established. The simulation results demonstrate that the novel air conditioning cycle can supply relative low temperature chilled water and effective process air, with good thermal and electrical coefficient performance. And the simulation results is better than the test results, which says that the real system has great potential to improve its performance.