{Review of solar-powered desiccant cooling systems}

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Title{Review of solar-powered desiccant cooling systems}
Publication TypeBook Chapter
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsGe T.S., Xu J.C.
Book TitleAdvances in Solar Heating and Cooling
Pagination329–379
PublisherElsevier
ISBN Number9780081003015
AbstractDesiccant cooling systems operate on the principle of adsorption dehumidification and evaporative cooling. Such systems use a natural working fluid and can be driven by low-grade thermal energy, which makes them especially useful for integration with solar collector systems. Because of these merits, solar-powered desiccant cooling systems are widely recognized as good alternatives to conventional vapor compression air-conditioning systems and have attracted increasing interest in the past years. This chapter aims to summarize research developments related to solar-powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling systems and liquid desiccant systems to provide information for potential application. For the solar-powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling system, in the first category, separate solar-powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling systems are reviewed according to the type of solar collector. For the second category, works related to hybrid solar-powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling systems are grouped together by type of auxiliary refrigeration system. We show that the feasibility of separate solar-powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling systems has been validated in representative sites in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa. Hybrid solar-powered rotary desiccant wheel cooling systems have a much wider application range because auxiliary cooling power is provided, and the hybrid systems can provide great energy savings compared with the vapor compression systems. As for the solar-powered liquid desiccant systems, they are being used either as stand-alone units or as hybrid units in conjunction with vapor compression systems (VCS) or vapor absorption systems (VAS), the hybrid ones being more in use. In a hybrid system, the desiccant dehumidifier handles the latent cooling load and VCS/VAS handles the sensible cooling load. In addition, the photovoltaic–electrodialysis regeneration method for liquid desiccant cooling systems is also a good choice for some weather conditions. This review is useful for understanding the status quo of solar-powered desiccant cooling systems and highlights future possible improvements.
URLhttp://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780081003015000138
DOI10.1016/B978-0-08-100301-5.00013-8