Research progress in liquid desiccant air-conditioning devices and systems

The developments on liquid desiccant air-conditioning systems were illustrated and summarized in this paper. In order to obtain a better dehumidification (or humidification) performance, liquid desiccant should be cooled (or heated) rather than air. Two fundamental modules were proposed, including basic spray module with extra heat exchanger and total heat recovery device, which could be combined to set up various kinds of liquid desiccant air processors. The operating principle of heat pump-driven outdoor air processor as well as heat-driven outdoor air processor was analyzed. The COP_air of the heat pump (or power)-driven outdoor air processor could be as high as 5.0 both in summer and in winter operating conditions. The COP_air of the hot water-driven processor (65°C–80°C) was 1.19 and 0.93, respectively, using evaporative indoor exhaust air or cooling water to cool the dehumidification process. The liquid desiccant air processor-based temperature and humidity-independent control air-conditioning system could save 20%–30% operating energy compared with the conventional air-conditioning system.     

Research progress in liquid desiccant air-conditioning devices and systems

The developments on liquid desiccant air-conditioning systems were illustrated and summarized in this paper. In order to obtain a better dehumidification (or humidification) performance, liquid desiccant should be cooled (or heated) rather than air. Two fundamental modules were proposed, including basic spray module with extra heat exchanger and total heat recovery device, which could be combined to set up various kinds of liquid desiccant air processors. The operating principle of heat pump-driven outdoor air processor as well as heat-driven outdoor air processor was analyzed. The COP_air of the heat pump (or power)-driven outdoor air processor could be as high as 5.0 both in summer and in winter operating conditions. The COP_air of the hot water-driven processor (65°C–80°C) was 1.19 and 0.93, respectively, using evaporative indoor exhaust air or cooling water to cool the dehumidification process. The liquid desiccant air processor-based temperature and humidity-independent control air-conditioning system could save 20%–30% operating energy compared with the conventional air-conditioning system.     

Improvement of Dehumidification Performance of Desiccant Rotors Regenerated at a Low Temperature

This paper presents a highly effective desiccant rotor that can be regenerated at a temperature between 20 and 30°C, corresponding to return air exhausted from conditioned spaces. The desiccant rotor consists of a honeycomb structure, which is coated with organic polymer desiccant materials. For a specific operating condition, the desiccant rotor functions as a rotary total heat exchanger. Desiccant rotors with thickness of 0.2 m and more lead to both higher dehumidification and temperature efficiencies compared to conventional total rotary heat exchangers in different states of the inlet process and regeneration airflows. Both the dehumidification and temperature efficiencies achieve 100% at a thickness of 0.4 m, and at rotational speeds between 100 and 300 rph. Dehumidification, together with cooling, is very effective. For the desiccant rotor with a thickness of 0.4 m, the humidity change of the process air corresponds closely to isothermal dehumidification. In terms of the dehumidification and cooling functions, the performance of the desiccant rotor with thickness of 0.2 m and more is very advantageous compared to conventional desiccant rotors and rotary total heat exchangers.     

Indirect evaporative cooling and economy cycle in summer air conditioning

The air‐side economy cycle has a large application in warm and dry climates, where the simple increase in the amount of outside air supplied to the conditioned space can substantially reduce the cooling load. Although the dry‐bulb economy cycle is the simplest implementation, requiring only a dry‐bulb temperature comparison to operate the air flow rate regulation, the greatest potential in cost reduction is achieved by the wet‐bulb economizer (WBE). Indirect evaporative cooling (IEC), based on energy recovery from the saturated exhaust airflow, is another technique to be applied in the reduction of a building cooling load. Preconditioning the outdoor airflow by IEC actually extends the applicability of the WBE. In such a way, specific synergies can be exploited when WBE and IEC are combined, even in humid climates. On the other hand, the largest benefits can be accomplished only by redefining the control strategy of the outside air flow rate. In the present paper, the outside air flow rate control strategies are described both for simple WBE and for preconditioned WBE cycles. Different regulation regions are defined on the psychrometric chart together with the relative control strategies. The incidence of these regions is evaluated for 14 different European and American climates. Finally, the seasonal cooling energy requirements are determined for the dehumidification by cooling process, which can be considered as mainly responsible for cooling energy costs in the considered localities. Traditional, preconditioned by heat recovery and IEC on the exhaust airflow, WBE and PWBE air conditioning cycles are compared. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Integration of variable refrigerant flow and heat pump desiccant systems for the cooling season

Energy saving and indoor air condition enhancing potentials by integrating the variable refrigerant flow (VRF) and heat pump desiccant (HPD) systems were investigated in a field performance test during a cooling season. Three different operating modes: non-ventilated, HPD ventilation assisted and HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted VRF systems were investigated. The HPD systems operated in the ventilation–dehumidification mode dehumidify the outdoor air and supply it to the indoor air during the ventilation. It was found that the VRF systems provided an average of 97.6% of the total cooling energy for the HPD ventilation assisted mode. The remainder was the recovered cool by the HPD systems during ventilation. The VRF systems provided an average of 78.9% of the total cooling energy for the HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted mode. The remainder was covered by the HPD systems which provided additional sensible and latent cooling. Overall, among the three operating modes, it is concluded that the HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted VRF outdoor units consume less energy than the HPD ventilation assisted ones, but more than the non-ventilated ones, while providing the best indoor thermal comfort and indoor air quality conditions. For the total system, the HPD ventilation–dehumidification assisted VRF systems consume less energy than the HPD ventilation assisted ones.     

Cooling performance and energy saving of a compression–absorption refrigeration system driven by a gas engine

The prototype of combined vapour compression–absorption refrigeration system was set up, where a gas engine drove directly an open screw compressor in a vapour compression refrigeration chiller and waste heat from the gas engine was used to operate absorption refrigeration cycle. The experimental procedure and results showed that the combined refrigeration system was feasible. The cooling capacity of the prototype reached about 589 kW at the Chinese rated conditions of air conditioning (the inlet and outlet temperatures of chilled water are 12 and 7°C, the inlet and outlet temperatures of cooling water are 30 and 35°C, respectively). Primary energy rate (PER) and comparative primary energy saving were used to evaluate energy utilization efficiency of the combined refrigeration system. The calculated results showed that the PER of the prototype was about 1.81 and the prototype saved more than 25% of primary energy compared to a conventional electrically driven vapour compression refrigeration unit. Error analysis showed that the total error of the combined cooling system measurement was about 4.2% in this work. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental and thermal analysis of energy efficient novel design wet cooling towers

Waste heat is generally dissipated from process water to atmospheric air in cooling towers. In the present study, a novel design is used to extract more amount of heat without any additional energy input by incorporating secondary ambient air in an induced draft wet cooling tower. In addition, more fresh air is induced in the tower from the rain zone, which increases the effectiveness at any value of the water to air flow rate (L/G ratio). Moreover, tower characteristics, range, and evaporation loss were also increased due to the novel design. It is noteworthy that secondary fresh air increases effectiveness, heat rejection, and tower characteristics by 10.12%, 19.65%, and 26.11%, respectively, and decreases approach by 16.32% at 0.55 L/G ratio, 44°C inlet water temperature, 29.7°C dry bulb temperature, and 18.4°C inlet air wet bulb temperature.     

Performance analysis of a direct expansion air dehumidification system combined with membrane-based total heat recovery

A direct expansion (DX) air dehumidification system is an efficient way to supply fresh and dry air to a built environment. It plays a key role in preventing the spread of respiratory disease like Swine flu (H1N1). To improve the efficiency of a conventional DX system in hot and humid regions, a new system of DX in combination with a membrane-based total heat exchanger is proposed. Air is supplied with dew points. A detailed mathematical modeling is performed. A cell-by-cell simulation technique is used to simulate its performances. A real prototype is built in our laboratory in South China University of Technology to validate the model. The effects of inlet air humidity and temperature, evaporator and condenser sizes on the system performance are investigated. The results indicate that the model can predict the system accurately. Compared to a conventional DX system, the air dehumidification rate (ADR) of the novel system is 0.5 times higher, and the coefficient of performance (COP) is 1 times higher. Furthermore, the system performs well even under harsh hot and humid weather conditions.     

Performance of hybrid refrigeration system using ammonia

This paper investigates the performance of a hybrid refrigeration system that combines sorption–conventional vapour compression refrigeration machine driven by dual source (heat and/or electricity). The dual source makes the system highly flexible and energy efficient. The ammonia refrigerant (R717) is used in both adsorption and associated conventional refrigeration cycles. The model of thermal compressor corresponds to a multiple pair of compact adsorption generators operating out of phase with both heat and mass recovery for continuous cooling production and better efficiency. Each generator is based on a plate heat exchanger concept using the activated carbon–ammonia pair. The model of conventional vapour compressor is a reciprocating compressor from Frigopol. The hybrid refrigeration performances are presented mainly for ice making and air conditioning applications (T_C = 40 °C, −5 °C < T_E < 20 °C). The exhaust temperature of the compressor (driving temperature for thermal compressor) varies from 90 °C to 250 °C. The results show a cooling production ranging from 4 kW to 12 kW with back-up mode (both cycles not operating simultaneously) and from 8 kW to 24 kW with complementary mode (both cycles operating simultaneously). The effective overall COP based on the total equivalent heat rate input varies from 0.24 to 0.76.     

Energy recovery from diesel engine exhaust gases for performance enhancement and air conditioning

The utilisation of exhaust waste heat is now well known and the forms the basis of many combined cooling and power installations. The exhaust gases from such installations represent a significant amount of thermal energy that traditionally has been used for combined heat and power applications. This paper explores the theoretical performance of four different configurations of a turbocharger diesel engine and absorption refrigeration unit combination when operating in a high ambient day temperature of 35 °C. The simulation is performed using “SPICE”, a well known programme commonly used for engine performance predictions. The paper examines the interfacing of the turbocharged diesel engine with an absorption refrigeration unit and estimates the performance enhancement. The influence of the cycle configuration and performance parameters on the performance of the engine operating as a power supply with an auxiliary air conditioning plant is examined. It is demonstrated that a pre- and inter-cooled turbocharger engine configuration cycle offers considerable benefits in terms of SFC, efficiency and output for the diesel cycle performance.     

Control performance of a dedicated outdoor air system adopting liquid desiccant dehumidification

Liquid desiccant is energy efficient for dehumidification in air-conditioning systems. In this study, a novel dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) adopting lithium chloride solution as liquid desiccant is proposed to process supply air. The DOAS mainly consists of a membrane-based total heat exchanger, a liquid dehumidifier, a regenerator and a dry cooling coil. It can realize independent temperature and humidity controls for supply air. Control strategies for the supply air dehumidification and cooling process as well as the desiccant solution regeneration process in the DOAS are developed and verified. The control performances of the proposed dedicated outdoor air system are investigated at different operation conditions by simulation tests. The results show that the DOAS is more suitable for hot and humid climates. The effects of the total heat exchanger on the performance of the DOAS are also evaluated. It can improve the system energy performance by 19.9–34.8%.     

Modelling and parametric analysis of heat and mass transfer performance of refrigerant cooled liquid desiccant absorbers

A detailed mathematical model is developed to predict the heat and mass transfer performance of a vapour compression/liquid desiccant hybrid cooling and dehumidification absorber referred to as RCLDA system in this work. An RCLDA system uses a desiccant loop to bring the humidity within the comfort range along with a sensible cooling loop to bring the temperature within the comfort range. In an attempt to increase both the COP of the desiccant as well as the cooling system, the RCLDA system combines a desiccant cycle operating in its most efficient range along with a cooling cycle operating at higher evaporator temperatures. Governing equations describing the steady-state, two-dimensional heat and mass transfer in an RCLDA system are developed to study its cooling and dehumidification performance. A numerical scheme based on a control volume analysis is used to solve these differential equations. A parametric analysis is conducted to help understand and optimize the performance of this RCLDA system. The analytical model is also used to develop heat and mass transfer performance maps for partial load performance estimation of the RCLDA system. A knowledge of the partial load performance is required for the yearly performance estimation. It is found from this study that the performance of the RCLDA system is a strong function of refrigerant and air side NTU, evaporator temperature, carry-over regenerator load and refrigerant and air mass flow rates. The mass flow rate of desiccant solution in the absorber did not have any significant impact on the performance of the absorber. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An experimental study on multi‐purpose desiccant integrated vapor‐compression air‐conditioning system

In this paper, a multi‐purpose hybrid desiccant integrated vapor‐compression air‐conditioning system of a small capacity is experimentally investigated. The system, referred as hybrid desiccant‐assisted air conditioner (HDAC), is designed to meet the cooling load of spaces having large latent heat portions and at the same time to extract water from atmospheric air. The system is mainly consisted of a liquid‐desiccant dehumidification unit integrated with a vapor‐compression system (VCS). The dehumidification unit uses lithium chloride (LiCl) solution as the working material. The effect of different parameters, such as desiccant solution flow rate, process airflow rate, evaporator and condenser temperatures, strong solution concentration and regeneration temperature on the performance of the system, is studied. This system has a water recovery rate of 6.7 l/h TR (1.91 l/h kW) of pure water at typical north Egyptian climate (20–30°C dry bulb and 35–45% relative humidity). The HDAC system has a COP as high as 3.8 (an improvement of about 68% over the conventional VCS). The system offers a total cooling capacity of about 1.75 TR (6.15 kW) using a 0.75 TR (2.6 kW) VCS unit. Finally, the proposed system is found to have a payback time of about 10 months without any considerable extra capital cost compared with the known split air‐conditioning system. The results emphasize the potential benefits of the HDAC system. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance of a novel mechanical ventilation heat recovery heat pump system

The ventilation, heating and cooling of a building can be provided by advanced mechanical ventilation heat recovery systems (MVHR) which incorporate heat pumps. This paper covers the testing and performance of a novel MVHR heat pump system developed for the domestic market [S.B. Riffat, The University of Nottingham: Patent no. GB9522882.1, 1995; Patent no. GB9522882.1, 1996; Patent no. GB9507035.5, 1995]. The novel system uses revolving heat exchangers which both impel air and transfer heat. Low grade heat recovered from the exhaust air is upgraded by a heat pump and used for heating the fresh supply air. The system typically provides 2 kW of heating for air supplied at 250 m³/h. The prototype system has a heating coefficient of performance (COP) of up to 5 and an average system of COP 2.5 over a range of conditions. The system can also be used for cooling by switching the air flows over the evaporator and condenser. The prototype system requires very little maintenance and is compact and energy efficient.     

Solar hybrid air-conditioning system for high temperature cooling in subtropical city

Although solar energy is able to power the heat-driven refrigeration, its contribution is quite limited due to the conventional cooling requirement. In building air-conditioning, it is common to supply low temperature chilled water, usually in 5–7 °C. If this temperature can be elevated, it would enhance the effectiveness to harness solar energy and minimize auxiliary heating. Solar refrigeration would then be more effective through high temperature cooling, by providing 15–18 °C chilled water instead. In such provision, radiant ceiling cooling can be coupled to handle the space cooling load, particularly space sensible load. And the space latent load and ventilation load are handled by a separate dehumidification provision, like the heat-driven desiccant dehumidification. Therefore, a solar hybrid air-conditioning system is formulated, using adsorption refrigeration, chilled ceilings and desiccant dehumidification. In this study, the year-round performances of the proposed solar hybrid air-conditioning systems were evaluated for two typical office types. The performance metrics include the solar fraction, coefficient of performance, solar thermal gain, primary energy consumption and indoor conditions. Comparative study was conducted for the hybrid air-conditioning system worked with the three common types of chilled ceilings, namely the chilled panels, passive chilled beams and active chilled beams. The solar hybrid air-conditioning system was also benchmarked with the conventional vapour compression refrigeration for office use. It is found that the proposed solar hybrid air-conditioning system is technically feasible through high temperature cooling. Among the three types of chilled ceilings, the passive chilled beams is the most energy-efficient option to work with the solar adsorption refrigeration for space conditioning in the subtropical city.     

Analysis on a hybrid desiccant air-conditioning system

Hybrid desiccant-assisted preconditioner and split cooling coil system, which combines the merits of moisture removal by desiccant and cooling coil for sensible heat removal, is a potential alternative to conventional vapor compression cooling systems. In this paper, experiments on a hybrid desiccant air-conditioning system, which is actually an integration of a rotary solid desiccant dehumidification and a vapor compression air-conditioning unit, had been carried out. It is found that, compared with the conventional VC (vapor compression) system, the hybrid desiccant cooling system economizes 37.5% electricity powers when the process air temperature and relative humidity are maintained at 30 °C, and 55% respectively. The reason why the hybrid desiccant cooling system features better performance relative to the VC system lies in the improvement brought about in the performance of the evaporator in VC unit due to desiccant dehumidification. A thermodynamic model of the hybrid desiccant system with R-22 as the refrigerant has been developed and the impact of operating parameters on the sensible heat ratio of the evaporator and the electric power saving rate has been analyzed. It is found that a majority of evaporators can operate in the dry condition even if the regeneration temperature is lower (i.e. 80 °C).     

An investigation on the absorption–compression hybrid refrigeration cycle driven by gases and power from vehicle engines

A novel absorption–compression hybrid refrigeration cycle (ACHRC) driven by gases and power from vehicle engines is proposed in this article, in which R124–dimethylacetamide is used as working fluid. The ACHRC composes the absorption refrigeration subcycle powered by exhaust gases and the compression refrigeration subcycle driven by power from both automotive engines. It can also meet the technical requirements for vehicle air‐conditioning systems. The thermal calculation for the ACHRC was performed under the given operating conditions in which the temperatures of cooling air, condensation and evaporation are 35 °C, 55 °C and 3 °C, respectively, and the coach air‐conditioning load is 30 kW. The operating characteristics of the ACHRC, which vary with the generator load ratio and cooling air temperature, have been simulated and analyzed. The simulation results show that the maximum integration coefficient of performance of the ACHRC can reach 14.85 under the given operating conditions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Performance enhancement of gas turbines by inlet air‐cooling in hot and humid climates

In this paper, a model to study the effect of inlet air‐cooling on gas turbines power and efficiency is developed for two different cooling techniques, direct mechanical refrigeration and an evaporative water spray cooler. Energy analysis is used to present the performance improvement in terms of power gain ratio and thermal efficiency change factors. Relationships are derived for an open gas turbine cycle with irreversible compression and expansion processes coupled to air‐cooling systems. The obtained results show that the power and efficiency improvements are functions of the ambient conditions and the gas turbine pressure ratio. The performance improvement is calculated for, ambient temperatures from 30 to 50°C, the whole range of humidity ratio (10–100%) and pressure ratio from 8 to 12. For direct mechanical refrigeration air‐cooling, the power improvement is associated with appreciable drop in the thermal efficiency. The maximum power gain can be obtained if the air temperature is reduced to its lowest limit that is the refrigerant evaporation temperature plus the evaporator design temperature difference. Water spray cooling process is sensitive to the ambient relative humidity and is suitable for dry air conditions. The power gain and efficiency enhancement are limited by the wet bulb temperature. The performance of spray evaporative cooler is presented in a dimensionless working graph. The daily performance of the cooling methods is examined for an ABB‐11D5 gas turbine operating under the hot humid conditions of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The results indicate that the direct mechanical refrigeration increased the daily power output by 6.77% versus 2.57% for the spray air‐cooling. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

地板辐射与下送风复合式供冷系统运行特性实验研究

测量地板辐射与下送风复合式供冷系统运行过程中的室内空气温湿度、围护结构表面温度等室内环境参数,分析室内温湿度、热舒适性、系统换热量的变化规律,并对室内空气环境进行影响因素分析。实验结果表明:室内空气绝对湿度较室内空气温度达到稳定需要的时间更短;MRT(mean radian temperature)、OT(operation temperature)和PMV-PPD值在系统开启后第1.0 h减小速率最大,1.5 h后逐渐趋于稳定,此时,PMV约为0.49,PPD约为10%,在热舒适范围内;地板净辐射换热量、对流换热量和总换热量在系统开启后的1.5 h内递增,然后趋于稳定,此时,地板辐射换热量约为37 W/m~2,占总换热量的47%;室内空气温度和作用温度均随室外综合温度、室内发热量、供回水平均温度和送风温度的增加而增加,当室外综合温度较低或较高,或室内发热量较低,或供回水平均温度较低时,室内空气温度和作用温度变化梯度较小,室内空气温度和作用温度随送风温度增加而增加的速率近似呈线性。     

Cooling performance of a hybrid refrigeration system designed for telecommunication equipment rooms

During the last several years, the power density and thermal density of telecommunication equipments have been increased. The optimum control of the PCB surface temperature is very important for obtaining high performance and operation reliability of telecommunication equipments. In this study, the cooling characteristics of telecommunication equipments were measured and analyzed as a function of the equipments’ heat density. In addition, the performance of a novel hybrid refrigeration system for telecommunication equipment rooms was measured at various operating conditions. The PCB surface temperature ranged from 35 to 60 °C, which was relatively higher than the air temperature due to heat trapping and improper air distribution. The hybrid refrigeration system operated in the vapor compression cooling mode at high outdoor temperatures, but in the secondary fluid cooling mode at low outdoor temperatures. The outdoor temperature for the mode switch was approximately 8.3 °C. The COP of the hybrid refrigeration system was significantly enhanced at low outdoor temperatures as compared with the conventional vapor compression system due to no operation of the compressor.