CH-93-04-4 -- DEAC - Desiccant Enhancement of Cooling-Based Dehumidification ✓ Most Recent

The desiccant-enhanced air conditioner (DEAC) uses a desiccant wheel or liquid desiccant to pre-cool and humidify the return air entering a cooling coil and then post-heat and dehumidifying the supply air as it leaves the coil. A unique feature of this process is that regeneration of the desiccant component is accomplished by the return air rather than an external heat source. The result of the DEAC psychrometric process is increased dehumidification of the supply air. Presents a simulation model that calculates the air conditioner system's energy efficiency ratio (EER) as a function of the sensible heat ratio (SHR). This model is used to compare the performance of the DEAC system with that of a heat-pipe-augmented, single-speed air conditioner and an air conditioner with a variable-speed supply air fan. The comparison shows that the DEAC's EER values at low sensible heat ratios are larger than the values for these alternative systems.

KEYWORDS: desiccants, dehumidifying, unit air conditioners, cooling, cooler batteries, precooling, psychrometry, calculating, energy, efficiency, comparing, performance.

Units: Dual