Performance of a Liquid Desiccant Solar Air Conditioner – An Experimental and Theoretical Approach

Application of liquid desiccant in air dehumidification /cooling appears promising in hot and humid regions of Iran, such as the provinces located on the Persian Gulf, due to high availability of solar energy in summer. Dehumidification and indirect evaporative cooling of outside air are both achieved through a cross flow polymer plate heat exchanger (PPHE), using lithium chloride solution as the desiccant. The dilute solution from the dehumidification process is concentrated in a scavenger air regenerator using hot water from flat plate solar collectors. Carryover of the desiccant particles has been avoided by using eliminators, such as demister or filter. conditioner (LDAC) and compared with the conventional vapour compression system. The study reveals that the operating cost of an LDAC is significantly lower than its conventional counterpart. The costs would further reduce if a storage system is used to store the concentrated solution of liquid desiccant A simple payback of five years was determined for the solar components of the liquid desiccant system in this study. Environmentally, the solar LDAC is a friendly air conditioning system, which does not contribute to greenhouse gas emission or global warming as the conventional HVAC systems do.

Keywords:

Liquid desiccant , dehumidification , plate heat exchanger , solar regeneration