Case study and theoretical analysis of a solar driven two-stage

rotary desiccant cooling system assisted by vapor compression

air-conditioning
Dong La, Yanjun Dai

, Yong Li, Tianshu Ge, Ruzhu Wang

Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
Engineering Research Center of Solar Power and Refrigeration, MOE, Shanghai 200240, China
Received 8 July 2010; received in revised form 23 January 2011; accepted 27 August 2011
Available online 21 September 2011
Communicated by: Associate Editor W.S. Du
Abstract
In this paper, a solar hybrid desiccant air conditioning system, which combines the technologies of two-stage desiccant cooling
(TSDC) and air-source vapor compression air-conditioning (VAC) together, has been congured, experimentally investigated and the-
oretically analyzed. The system mainly includes a TSDC unit with design cooling capacity for 10 kW, an air-source VAC unit with 20 kW
in nominal cooling capacity, a at plate solar collector array for 90 m
2
, a hot water storage tank and a cooling tower. Performance model
of the system has been created in TRNSYS simulation studio. The objective of this paper is to report the test result of the solar hybrid air
conditioning system and evaluate the energy saving potential, thereby providing useful data for practical application. Experimental
results show that, under typical weather condition, the solar driven desiccant cooling unit can achieve an average cooling capacity of
10.9 kW, which contributes 35.7% of the cooling capacity provided by the hybrid system. Corresponding average thermal COP is over
1.0, electric COP is up to 11.48. Under Beijing (temperate), Shanghai (humid) and Hong Kong (extreme humid) weather conditions, the
solar TSDC unit can remove about 57%, 69% and 55% of the seasonal moisture load, thereby reducing electric power consumption by
about 31%, 34% and 22%, respectively. These suggest that the solar hybrid system is feasible for a wide range of operating conditions.
2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Solar energy; Desiccant cooling; Dehumidication; Air conditioning
1. Introduction
Increasing energy consumption and deteriorating global
warming have sparked growing interest in heat-powered
refrigeration and air-conditioning processes. Solar thermal
system, which matches the cooling demand prole perfectly
and can provide a substantial part of the energy needed for
air conditioning, is thus thought to be an ecient way to
alleviate these crises. Among existing solar thermally-
driven cooling processes, solid rotary desiccant cooling
has been recognized as a promising technology (Sumathy
et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2009). Currently, a lot of simula-
tion researches about solid DCS based on solar energy
have been performed in the aspect of feasibility and poten-
tial evaluation (Henning et al., 2001; Joudi and Dhaidan,
2001; Mavroudaki et al., 2002; Halliday et al., 2002; Dai
et al., 2002; Ahmed et al., 2005; Mei et al., 2006; Hirunlabh
et al., 2007; Ali et al., 2007; Hassan and Beliveau, 2008;
Bourdoukan et al., 2008; Khalid et al., 2009; White et al.,
2009). Furthermore, some pilot projects have been imple-
mented. A solar assisted desiccant cooling plant has been
installed at a technology center in Riesa/Saxony (Henning
et al., 2001). Five demonstration systems, which are within
0038-092X/$ - see front matter 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.solener.2011.08.039

Corresponding author at: Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics,

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Tel.: +86 21
3420 4358; fax: +86 21 3420 6814.
E-mail address: yjdai@sjtu.edu.cn (Y. Dai).
www.elsevier.com/locate/solener
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009
Task 25 on Solar Assisted Air Conditioning of Buildings
in the Solar Heating & Cooling Programme of the Interna-
tional Energy Agency, have been implemented in Freiburg/
Germany, Hartberg/Austria, Mataro/Spain, Lisbon/
Portugal and Waalwijk/Netherlands, respectively (Murphy,
2005).
Recent researches (Zhang and Niu, 1999; Ge et al., 2009,
2010) suggested that, as one of ideal air conditioning pro-
cesses with the smallest irreversibility, isothermal dehumid-
ication would be helpful to the utilization of low-grade
thermal energy. Basically, the air ows alternately over in-
nite desiccant wheels and intercoolers, where its thermody-
namics would be close to isothermal. As a result, the
regeneration temperature of an ideal innite multistage
DCS would be the minimum. Due to the low regeneration
temperature and heat recovery in the intercoolers, the con-
sumption of regeneration heat would also be reduced and
the thermal performance of the system would be improved.
Zhang and Niu (1999) have discussed the use of low regen-
eration temperature in a TSDC system. Simulation results
showed that lower regeneration temperature will be
required than for a single-stage DCS. Lately, a TSDC setup
using newly developed composite desiccant material has
been developed and experimentally investigated by Shang-
hai Jiao Tong University (Ge et al., 2009, 2010). It was
demonstrated that the TSDC setup could achieve a high
thermal COP at low regeneration temperature. Under Air
conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) summer
condition, the required regeneration temperature for reach-
ing a moisture removal about 6 g/kg has been decreased
from 100 C to 70 C in comparison with conventional
one-stage system. The aforementioned work suggests that
solar energy would be eciently used by coupling to TSDC
system, which may extend the application of desiccant
cooling further, especially for hot and humid climates.
In this paper, a solar driven TSDC system, which adopts
internal coolers to minimize the adsorption heat and
approach the isothermal dehumidication, is introduced.
The system has been installed in an oce building in
Jiangsu, China. Considering the possible absence of solar
radiation and the requirements of comfortable indoor envi-
ronment, an air-source VAC unit is incorporated. Flat
plate solar collectors, which can have a good integration
with the building roof, are also adopted. The objective of
this paper is to report the test result of the solar-powered
TSDC unit and analyze the performance of the hybrid sys-
tem. Besides, on the basis of experimental investigation, a
simulation model of the system is developed, using the
TRNSYS computer simulation software package. By
studying the seasonal performance of the hybrid system
in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong, which are represen-
tatives of temperate, hot humid and hot extreme humid cli-
mates, respectively, the energy saving potential and
applicability of the system are evaluated.
Nomenclature
A
sc
solar collector area (m
2
)
c
w
specic heat of water (kJ/(kg K))
COP coecient of performance
d humidity ratio (kg water vapor/kg dry air)
E
save
electric power saving rate (%)
f
solar
solar fraction (%)
h enthalpy (kJ/kg)
I solar insolation density (W/m
2
)
I
ave
average current (A)
m mass ow rate (kg/h)
P
save
primary energy saving rate (%)
Q
c
cooling capacity of the system (kW)
Q
d
cooling capacity of the desiccant cooling unit
(kW)
Q
p
weighted primary energy consumption (kW)
Q
reg
regeneration heat consumption (kW)
Q
sc
received solar radiation (kW)
Q
v
cooling capacity of the vapor compression air
conditioning unit (kW)
r air fraction (%)
RH relative humidity (%)
T temperature (C)
U voltage (V)
V volume ow rate (m
3
/h)
W electric power (kW)
Greek symbols
Dd moisture removal (kg water vapor/kg dry air)
g
sc
eciency of solar collector
s time
Subscripts
a air
amb ambient
cw cooing water
d desiccant cooling unit
e electric
hw hot water
in inlet
out outlet
p primary
reg regeneration
sc solar collector
t thermal
v vapor compression air conditioning unit
w water
1-11, S, R state points
2998 D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009
2. System description
2.1. System conguration
Fig. 1 illustrates the schematic diagram of the hybrid
solar air conditioning system. As seen, the system generally
consists of three subsystems, namely, solar collecting sub-
system, which includes solar collectors and a hot water
storage tank, TSDC subsystem, which comprises two des-
iccant wheels and four air-to-water heat exchangers, and
air-source VAC subsystem. In addition, a cooling tower
is employed to provide cooling water for the TSDC subsys-
tem. Driven by the hot water from the heat collecting sub-
system (1-7-8 and 1-9-10), the TSDC subsystem handles the
hot humid air to a cold dry state (1-2-3-4-5). Then the air is
further cooled to supply air state (5-S) by mixing with the
processed air from VAC subsystem (R-6-S).
As reported by Ge et al. (2009), by adopting the technol-
ogy of isothermal dehumidication, the newly developed
TSDC system can cool process air to a satised state with
driving temperature in the range of 5090 C not only
under the mild ARI condition but also under the extreme
humid weather condition. This suggests that the TSDC sys-
tem is reasonable for being coupled to at plate solar col-
lector, which is superior in low cost and can obtain good
eciency at low operating temperature.
Considering that solar energy system depends on
weather conditions to some degree and the performance
of solar collector would be poor and could not totally meet
the heat requirement of thermal-powered unit in cloudy
and rainy weather, a VAC system is incorporated here.
According to the report of Li et al. (2006) and Jia et al.
(2006), hybrid desiccant air conditioning system combines
the merits of moisture removal by desiccant and VAC sys-
tem for sensible heat removal, which ensures both opera-
tion continuity and high indoor air quality. Moreover,
due to the eect of desiccant dehumidication, the perfor-
mance of the evaporator in VAC unit can also be
improved, thereby reducing electricity consumption and
providing signicant annual operating cost saving.
Specically, the system under consideration is designed
to be an air-conditioning device for a group of oces of
a building in Jiangsu, China. The conditioned space occu-
pies an area of about 160 m
2
. The summer there is hot and
humid, with typical ambient condition of 34 C and 65%
RH. The conditioned oces are southwest-facing, with
one interior and four exterior windows each. The hybrid
solar air conditioning system is installed on the rooftop
of the building. The system was designed according to
the calculated cooling and heating loads of the conditioned
oces. Under typical local condition, the cooling load in
summer is 25 kW, in which sensible cooling load is
15 kW and latent cooling load is 10 kW. Thus, a TSDC
unit of 10 kW and an air-source VAC unit of 20 kW were
selected. To realize perfect integration of solar collectors
and building, at plate solar collectors were adopted and
mounted on a steel structure roof. Since the solar collectors
were mainly used as heat source of solar air conditioning
unit, the roof was designed to be facing due south with
an angle of 22 to the ground surface, in order that ecient
utilization of solar energy could be achieved. The solar col-
lectors were divided into 10 rows and each row consisted of
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the solar hybrid desiccant air conditioning system.
D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009 2999
6 pieces of collector modules. For the purpose of obtaining
hot water with relatively high temperature, the collector
modules in each row were connected in a series arrange-
ment. Valves were installed at the end of each row so that
they could be controlled separately. All collector modules
are 1.5 m
2
each. It should be pointed out that the solar col-
lecting system was primarily designed not only for the des-
iccant unit but also for domestic hot water and the test
results of experimental runs suggested that 72 m
2
solar col-
lectors could generally meet the requirement of the desic-
cant unit. Hence, during test, only 8 rows were used and
the actual collector area was 72 m
2
. Fig. 2 shows the photo
of the installed hybrid solar air conditioning system. The
main parameters of the system are listed in Table 1.
2.2. Working principle
To facilitate the principle description, psychrometric
chart, which illustrates the approximate evolution of air
treatment through the solar hybrid desiccant air condition-
ing system under ARI summer condition (ambient condi-
tions: 35 C, 40% RH; indoor conditions: 26.7 C, 50%
RH), is depicted in Fig. 3 based on the schematic diagram
shown in Fig. 1. It should be noted that, in view of the dif-
ferent properties of desiccant cooling system and VAC sys-
tem, the inlet process air for the TSDC unit is ambient air
(state 1), while the counterpart for the VAC unit is return
air (state R). This means the TSDC unit and the VAC unit
are mainly used to deal with latent heat load and sensible
heat load, respectively, as demonstrated in Fig. 3. Addi-
tionally, the ambient air processed by the TSDC unit can
also meet the fresh air requirement of conditioned spaces.
The hot water cycles in two dierent modes, namely heat
storage mode and heat supply mode. For the heat storage
mode, valve 2 is turned on and valve 1 is turned o; the hot
water bypasses the TSDC unit and ows into the tank
directly, and the operation of hot water pump is controlled
based on the temperature dierence between the solar col-
lectors and the hot water storage tank. For the heat supply
mode, valve 1 is turned on and valve 2 is turned o. In this
case, the hot water pump runs continuously. The hot water
from the tank is heated in the collector array before passing
through the TSDC unit in good weather. Otherwise, it is
supplied to the TSDC unit directly by closing all the valves
at the end of each row of the collector array.
The process air cycle is as follows: In the TSDCunit (1-2-
3-4-5), the ambient air at state point 1 passes through the
Fig. 2. Photos of the solar hybrid desiccant air conditioning system.
Table 1
Main geometrical and operating parameters of the solar hybrid air
conditioning system.
Solar collecting subsystem
Solar collector: at plate collector, which can be characterized by
g
sc
0:78 3:87
Tsc;out Tamb
I
0:012
Tsc;out Tamb
2
I
on the basis of
standalone test.
Area of collector: 72 m
2
Power of hot water pump: 410 W
Volume of hot water tank:
4 m
3
Flow rate of hot water: 0.52 m
3
/h
Solar driven TSDC unit
Desiccant: composite silica-gel Maximum ow rate of process air:
2600 m
3
/h
Cooling capacity: 10 kW Maximum ow rate of regeneration air:
1000 m
3
/h
Specic thermal COP: 1.0 Rotation speed of desiccant wheel: 8 r/h
Driving temperature: 50
90 C
Power of motor for desiccant wheel:
120 W
Diameter of desiccant wheel:
440 mm
Power of cooling water pump: 300 W
Thickness of desiccant wheel:
100 mm
Air-source VAC unit
Cooling capacity: 20 kW Maximum ow rate of process air:
5000 m
3
/h
Nominal voltage: 380 V
3000 D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009
rst desiccant wheel, where it is dehumidied and heated by
adsorption heat. Then it is sensibly cooled from state point
23 in a heat exchanger by exchanging heat with cooling
water from the cooling tower. This cold dry air then passes
through the second desiccant wheel and another heat
exchanger in tandem with a further dehumidied and
cooled air output at state point 5. Simultaneously, the
VAC unit (R-6) processes a stream of return air from state
point R to 6. By mixing these two air streams together, the
process air from the TSDC unit (state 5) is cooled further
and qualied supply air is produced (state S).
The regeneration air cycle is as follows: Two groups of
air streams work in parallel (1-7-8 and 1-9-10). They are
rst sensibly heated to state points 7 and 9 by hot water
from solar collector array in heat exchangers. Afterwards,
the hot air streams ow through the regeneration sections
of the wheels to desorb water vapor and regenerate the des-
iccant, and exit at state points 8 and 10. Here, in order to
realize cascaded utilization of thermal energy, the hot
water is rst pumped to the second stage, where the inlet
condition of process air (state 3) is drier than that of the
rst stage (state 1) and higher regeneration temperature is
needed to obtain an eective moisture removal.
It should be pointed out that, as a demonstration pro-
ject, we mainly focused on the performance of the solar dri-
ven TSDC unit and the combined operation characteristics
of the hybrid air conditioning system in summer season.
However, the system could also meet the requirement of
heating in winter and supply domestic hot water when it
is coupled to tap water system all-year round. Moreover,
the process air can be humidied in the TSDC unit in heat-
ing season too.
3. Performance indexes
The thermal eciency of the solar heating subsystem is
evaluated by the ratio of thermal energy consumed by the
TSDC unit to the received solar radiation:
g
sc

Q
reg
Q
sc

R
sstop
sstart
c
w
m
w
T
hw;in
T
hw;out
ds
R
sstop
sstart
IA
sc
ds
1
Key indexes, such as cooling capacity Q
d
, thermal coef-
cient of performance COP
d,t
(i.e. COP based on thermal
energy usage), electric coecient of performance COP
d,e
(i.e. COP based on electrical energy input) and moisture
removal Dd are used to evaluate the performance of the
TSDC unit:
Q
d
m
d;a
h
1
h
5
2
COP
d;t

Q
d
Q
reg

Q
d
c
w
m
w
T
hw;in
T
hw;out

3
COP
d;e

Q
d
W
d

Q
d
W
hw;pump
W
cw;pump
W
motor
4
Dd Dd
1
Dd
2
d
1
d
2
d
3
d
4
5
To nd out the combined thermal and electric perfor-
mance of the TSDC unit, COP based on weighted primary
energy consumption, which takes 1 kW of electrical energy
to be equivalent to 3.33 kW of thermal energy (Sheridan
and Mitchell, 1985), is also studied:
COP
d;p

Q
d
Q
p;d

Q
d
Q
reg
3:33W
d
6
Besides, electric power saving rate E
save,d
and primary
energy saving rate P
save,d
, which represent the potential
of electric power saving and primary energy saving for pro-
ducing 1 kW cooling power, respectively, are evaluated
based on the dierence between the TSDC unit and the
VAC unit:
E
save;d

W
v
=Q
v
W
d
=Q
d
W
v
=Q
v
7
P
save;d

Q
p;v
=Q
v
Q
p;d
=Q
d
Q
p;v
=Q
v
8
Also, cooling capacity Q
v
, electric coecient of perfor-
mance COP
v,e
and COP based on primary energy COP
v,p
are used to evaluated the performance of the VAC unit:
Q
v
m
v;a
h
R
h
6
9
COP
v;e

Q
v
W
v

Q
v
UI
ave
10
COP
v;p

Q
v
3:33W
v
11
Additionally, cooling capacity Q
c
and solar fraction f
solar
of the hybrid solar air conditioning system are calculated
by:
Q
c
Q
d
Q
v
12
f
solar

Q
d
Q
c
13
Fig. 3. Psychrometric representation of the solar hybrid desiccant air
conditioning system.
D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009 3001
The thermodynamic performance of the hybrid system
has also been evaluated based on two dierent criteria,
namely, COP based on electrical energy intake COP
e
and
COP based on primary energy usage COP
p
:
COP
e

Q
c
W
d
W
v
14
COP
p

Q
c
Q
p

Q
c
Q
reg
3:33W
d
W
v

15
Corresponding electric power saving rate E
save
and pri-
mary energy saving rate P
save
are obtained by:
E
save

W
v
=Q
v
W
c
=Q
c
W
v
=Q
v
16
P
save

Q
p;v
=Q
v
Q
p
=Q
c
Q
p;v
=Q
v
17
4. Experimental results
The hybrid air conditioning system has been operated
since November 2007 and after numerous experimental
runs throughout the winter of 2007 and the spring of
2008, its operation was monitored from 6 July to 17 Sep-
tember during the summer of 2008.
For the purpose of presenting the performance of the
system, data recorded on 22 July, of which the ambient
air possessed an average temperature of 34.6 C and
humidity ratio of 21.54 g/kg, closely to the local outdoor
design condition (34 C, 21.87 g/kg) and the typical condi-
tion, under which Ge et al. (2009) carried out correspond-
ing experiments in lab (35 C, 23.2 g/kg), were selected and
discussed in this section. It can be expected that, the frac-
tion of the air r
a,d
(i.e. ratio of the air ow rate of the TSDC
unit to that of the hybrid system including the air processed
by the VAC unit) has signicant inuence on the supply air
state and the system performance. However, the optimal
air fraction depends on ambient and indoor conditions
greatly and varies with time and weather. In practical
application, it can be achieved through control strategy
optimization (Vitte et al., 2008). Here, since what we want
to present is the potential and the feasibility of the pro-
posed solar hybrid desiccant air conditioning system, the
air fraction has been set as two typical values, which stand
for the situation with qualied supply air and unqualied
supply air, respectively. Besides, as the VAC unit has been
investigated extensively, we have focused on introducing
the solar driven TSDC unit. Specically, the ow rate of
the air processed by the TSDC unit V
a,d
was adjusted from
2600 m
3
/h (r
a,d
= 34%) to 1800 m
3
/h (r
a,d
= 26%). Other
operating parameters were kept constant to maintain the
reliability and simplify the operation, as listed in Table 2.
4.1. Solar collector arrays
Fig. 4 shows the variations of inlet and outlet hot water
temperatures of the TSDC unit, solar radiant intensity and
ambient temperature. Here, the solar radiation data is the
inclined solar radiation that eectively hits the collector.
It is referred to the angle in which the solar collector has
been arranged. As can be seen, while the solar radiant
intensity uctuates between 122.2 W/m
2
and 539.9 W/m
2
,
the temperature of inlet hot water varies with in the range
of 62.166.9 C. The average temperature dierences
between inlet and outlet hot waters before and after
14:22 are about 11 C and 9 C, respectively. Based on
Eq. (1), the average eciency of the solar heating subsys-
tem over the monitoring period is found to be 0.32.
4.2. Performance analysis
In Fig. 5, the supply air conditions and corresponding
ambient conditions are plotted in a psychrometric chart.
It turns out that the solar air conditioning system can pro-
vide qualied supply air when V
a,d
is 1800 m
3
/h. However,
when V
a,d
reaches 2600 m
3
/h, the humidity ratio of the sup-
ply air is slightly higher than the required value. The reason
for the dierence mainly lies in that, the less the ow rate of
process air is, the more the process air can be dehumidied.
As demonstrated in Fig. 6, when V
a,d
is 2600 m
3
/h, the
average moisture removal is 2.63 g/kg after the 1st stage
and 4.15 g/kg after the 2nd stage, with a maximum value
5.13 g/kg. However, when V
a,d
is 1800 m
3
/h, corresponding
values are 3.15 g/kg, 5.14 g/kg and 6.28 g/kg, respectively.
These results have a good agreement with the experimental
data reported by Ge et al. (2009). It is indicated that the
dehumidication ability of the TSDC unit is reliable. Addi-
tionally, the increase of moisture removal suggests that the
Table 2
Operating parameters on 22nd July 2008.
Parameters Value
Hot water ow rate (m
3
/h) 0.63
Flow rate of regeneration air 1 (m
3
/h) 1000
Flow rate of regeneration air 2 (m
3
/h) 1000
Process air ow rate of VAC unit (m
3
/h) 5000
Fig. 4. Variations of inlet and outlet hot water temperatures of the TSDC
unit, solar radiant intensity and ambient temperature on 22nd July, 2008.
3002 D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009
dehumidication capacity can be improved and optimized
by adjusting the air ow rate.
Fig. 7 illustrates the measured air treatment process
when V
a,d
is 1800 m
3
/h. All the state points are depicted
on the basis of corresponding average dry bulb tempera-
tures and humidity ratios over the test time. It can be found
that the humidity ratio of process air is reduced by the
solar driven TSDC unit for two times (1-2 and 3-4). Fur-
thermore, the temperature of process air is also controlled
at relatively low value (2-3 and 4-5). These indicate that the
two-stage design of the desiccant cooling system is bene-
cial to the improvement of moisture removal and the eect
of adsorption heat can be inhibited eectively by adopting
intercoolers. Also found is that, except being cooled further
(5-S), the humidity ratio of the process air passing through
the TSDC unit is also reduced, which is dierent from the
evolution of air treatment under ARI summer condition in
Fig. 3. This indicates that, for high humid climate, it is dif-
cult for stand alone solar driven DCS to handle latent
heat load totally, especially when solar radiant intensity
is not strong enough. In this case, the incorporation of
VAC system is recommended, in order that comfort supply
air can be ensured.
Investigations on the performances of the solar driven
TSDC unit suggest that the cooling capacity has reached
the design value 10 kW, with a thermal COP over 1.0
and electric COP over 10, as shown in Fig. 8. The decrease
of COP
d,e
is due to that, when the ow rate of process air
decreases, the cooling capacity of the TSDC unit decreases
too, whereas corresponding power consumption almost
Fig. 5. Ambient air conditions and supply air conditions; the area in the dashed lines characterizes the qualied supply air region.
Fig. 6. Variations of moisture removal capacities.
Fig. 7. Psychrometric chart representation for a typical operation
(V
a,d
= 1800 m
3
/h).
Fig. 8. Variations of thermal COP, electric COP and cooling capacity of
the TSDC unit.
D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009 3003
keeps constant. However, the consumption of regeneration
heat also decreases, as reected by the change of the tem-
perature dierence of inlet and outlet hot waters in
Fig. 4, which leads to the slight variation of COP
d,t
. Any-
way, the sounded performance of the solar driven TSDC
unit suggests that the power consumption of the air condi-
tioning system can be reduced signicantly by adopting the
solar driven TSDC unit to remove the latent heat load of
fresh air. It should be pointed out that, in practical appli-
cation, due to the fact that both ambient and indoor con-
ditions vary with time and weather, it is quite dicult to
obtain fair comparison under dierent operating condi-
tions. Therefore, we have focused on presenting the perfor-
mance of the system under typical local conditions.
Detailed information about the eect of regeneration tem-
perature on system performance, which has been obtained
via experimental tests in lab, can be found in the paper by
Ge et al. (2009).
4.3. Energy saving analysis
To nd out the energy saving potential of the hybrid sys-
tem, tests were also carried out for the VAC unit. Based on
the results, the operating characteristics of the hybrid solar
air conditioning system are calculated with Eqs. (2)(17)
and summarized in Table 3. It is found that: (1) under typ-
ical weather conditions, 35.7% of the cooling output can be
contributed by the solar TSDC unit; (2) in comparison with
the air-source VAC unit, the electric power consumption
can be reduced by about 71.4% and 25.5% by the solar
TSDC unit and the hybrid system, respectively; (3) how-
ever, the COP based on primary energy usage of the TSDC
unit (0.91) and the hybrid system (0.96) are relatively lower
than that of the VAC unit (0.98), and thus corresponding
primary energy saving rate are negative (i.e. 8.1% and
2.9%). It is suggested that under typical hot humid condi-
tions, the solar hybrid system is benecial to electric power
saving but not primary energy. This is in accordance with
the investigation reported by Sheridan and Mitchell
(1985), namely, in hot and humid climate, the hybrid cycle
may even use more energy than a conventional system. Yet,
it should be noted that, the electric power saving potential
of the hybrid system is great and favorable compared with
the slight increase in primary energy intake. Moreover, the
heat source of the system is low-grade and renewable,
which is advantageous in environmental protection. There-
fore, the solar hybrid system is still a good choice in
general.
5. Theoretical analysis
In this section, a simulation model based on TRNSYS
16 is created to evaluate the energy saving potential and
applicability of the solar hybrid air conditioning system.
Seasonal thermodynamic performance is analyzed. Feasi-
bility discussion is performed under various weather condi-
tions. Fig. 9 shows the components and their connections
of the solar TSDC system in TRNSYS simulation studio.
Specic assumptions, which are based on the installed sys-
tem and the monitored results, are listed in Table 4.
The model was validated using the test data on 22 July,
2008. Eectiveness of the heat exchangers on regeneration
air side was set as 0.58, and that of the intercoolers on pro-
cess air side were set as 0.5 and 0.53 according to the test
results. Two key parameters, namely, the outlet tempera-
ture and humidity ratio of the air processed by the solar
driven TSDC unit (state 5), have been studied. As depicted
in Fig. 10, the predicted and the experimental data agree
well. The mean deviation is about 9.2% for temperature
and 4.6% for humidity ratio. Due to the unavoidable air
leakage during test, the experimental data are general
higher than the simulation results. The relatively higher
discrepancy of temperature can be explained by that: (1)
the experimental test was switched from the condition of
V
a,d
= 2600 m
3
/h to the condition for comparison (V
a,d
=
1800 m
3
/h), which raised a high discrepancy at the starting
phase as shown in Fig. 10; (2) in practical application, the
hot dehumidied air was usually sensibly cooled along the
passage to some degree, which resulted in some increase in
discrepancy. Considering the facts that the latter would
lead to better system performance and the deviation for
humidity ratio is favorable, the accuracy of prediction is
thought to be acceptable.
5.1. Seasonal performance analysis
The typical meteorological year (TMY) data of Shang-
hai is used. Constant solar collector area, water tank vol-
ume, hot water ow rate and process air ow rate of the
TSDC unit, which are set as 72 m
2
, 1 m
3
, 630 kg/h and
1200 m
3
/h, respectively, are adopted. The process air ow
rate of the TSDC unit, namely, the ventilation rate of the
conditioned space, is determined by the required minimum
fresh air volume m
fresh,a
= 30 m
3
/h person 0. 25 person/
m
2
160 m
2
= 1200 m
3
/h. While the ow rate of the air
handled by the VAC unit is set as 5000 m
3
/h, the ventila-
tion rate is about 19% of the process air of the hybrid
system.
Table 3
Combined operating characteristics of the solar hybrid desiccant air
conditioning system.
Solar
driven
TSDC
Air-source
VAC
Hybrid
system
Cooling capacity (kW) 10.9 19.6 30.5
Electrical load (kW) 0.95 5.97 6.92
Thermal load (kW) 8.79 8.79
Weighted primary energy load (kW) 11.95 19.88 31.83
Electric COP 11.48 3.28 4.41
Thermal COP 1.24
COP based on primary energy usage 0.91 0.98 0.96
Solar fraction (%) 35.7
Electric power saving rate (%) 71.4 25.5
Primary energy saving rate (%) 8.1 2.9
3004 D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009
Fig. 11 shows the daily humidity load of the conditioned
space and the daily moisture removal ability of the solar
driven TSDC unit. The humidity load for 41 days (34%)
can be totally handled by the TSDC unit and the rest needs
Fig. 9. TRNSYS simulation studio project of the solar air conditioning system.
Table 4
Specic assumptions used in the simulation.
Item Factor
Building heat load
Enclosure (1) Wall: area 87 m
2
, heat transfer coecient 1.53 W/(m
2
K)
(2) Window: area 36 m
2
, heat transfer coecient 2.9 W/(m
2
K)
(3) Ceiling: area 80 m
2
, heat transfer coecient 0.7 W/(m
2
K)
(4) Cooling load is neglected for oor and internal walls and widows, which are surrounded by conditioned rooms
Lighting 20 W/m
2
Equipment 40 W/m
2
People (1) Occupancy rate: 4 m
2
per person
(2) Percentage of men, women and children: 0.925
(3) Fresh air requirement: 30 m
3
/h per person
(4) Shanghai, T
indoor
= 27 C, RH
indoor
= 60% (local typical indoor conditions), moisture production rate: 194 g/h/person, latent
load production rate:130 W/person, sensible load production rate: 51 W/person (Zhao et al., 2008)
Solar air conditioning system
Solar collecting (1) Performance model of solar collector: type1b TRNSYS solar collector model
(2) Water tank: type4c with loss coecient of 2.5 kJ/(h tm
2
K) and initial temperature of 50 C
TSDC (1) Desiccant wheel: the similar mathematical model of desiccant wheel, which has been developed in our earlier work (Zhang
et al., 2003), is used in present study
(2) Regeneration air: the ow rate of regeneration air is kept as 1/3 of process air to reduce regeneration heat consumption without
substantial inuence on dehumidication capacity (Ge et al., 2009)
(3) Eciency of heat exchanger: 0.8
VAC (1) Cooling mode: the unit is presumed to have the same electric coecient performance as test results, namely, 3.28
(2) Dehumidication mode: power consumed by reheating process is determined according to the supply air state
Control strategy (1) Heat storage mode: run when outlet temperature of solar collector is higher than that of water tank to heat source, otherwise
stop
(2) Heat supply mode: run when the temperature to load of water tank is above 60 C during business hours (from 9:00 to 17:00)
D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009 3005
the assistance of VAC unit. However, for seasonal total
humidity load, about 69% can be handled by the TSDC
unit and the rest 31% by the VAC unit.
The monthly and seasonal cooling consumption is
shown in Fig. 12. About 33% of the total cooling is pro-
vided by the solar driven TSDC unit and the rest 67% by
the VAC unit. In view of the fact that cooling load consists
of sensible load and latent load, which are mainly removed
by the VAC unit and the TSDC unit, respectively, the con-
tribution of the solar driven TSDC unit is considerable.
Besides, the seasonal thermal performance of the hybrid
system is also proved to be sounded, with an average ther-
mal COP about 0.85.
To quantify the electric power saving potential of the
hybrid solar air conditioning system, a standalone VACsys-
tem is considered. The VAC system is designed and selected
to obtain similar values of air change rate and temperature
dierence between supply air and indoor air. The ow rate
of fresh air handled by the VAC system is also determined
by the required minimum fresh air volume m
fresh,a
=
30 m
3
/h person 0. 25 person/m
2
160 m
2
= 1200 m
3
/h,
which equals the ow rate of air processed by the TSDC
unit in the hybrid system. This ensures fair comparison to
some degree. The installed capacity of the hybrid system
and the conventional system are given in Table 5. Based
on seasonal simulation, it is found that about 34% of elec-
tric power can be saved by the hybrid system in comparison
with the conventional system. It should be noted that, as the
focus of this work is the performance of the solar hybrid
system in summer, its potential for providing domestic
hot water during transition season and heating the space
in winter has not been included here. In the case of all-year
round operation, the solar hybrid system would be more
energy ecient.
It is known that, indoor conditions usually impact the
thermodynamic performance of the air conditioning system
greatly. In view of this, the performance of the system has
been compared under two dierent cases: (1) case 1 with
relatively low enthalpy (22 C, 50% RH) and (2) case 2
based on local standard (27 C, 60% RH). For case 1, heat
gains from occupant are determined with moisture produc-
tion rate of 150 g/h/person, latent load production rate of
100 W/person and sensible load production rate of 81 W/
person (Zhao et al., 2008). Other assumptions are of the
same as those of case 2 listed in Table 4. The results are
given in Table 6. It is found that, the key indexes of case
Fig. 10. Comparison between the experimental and simulation results.
Fig. 11. Contribution of solar driven TSDC unit to moisture removal (1st June to 30 September, Shanghai).
Fig. 12. Contribution of solar driven TSDC unit to space cooling
(Shanghai).
3006 D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009
2 (27 C, 60% RH), like contribution of moisture removal
by solar TSDC unit, solar fraction and electric power sav-
ing rate, are more favorable than those of case 1 (22 C,
50% RH). With a relatively lower indoor temperature
and relative humidity, case 1 (22 C, 50% RH) consumes
about 29% more cooling power than case 2 (27 C, 60%
RH). As a result, corresponding electric power consump-
tion is increased by about 33%. It is indicated that the
lower the indoor conditions are, the worse the energy per-
formance will be. Therefore, for the sake of energy saving,
the indoor conditions should be kept at relatively high level
based on local climate and standard.
5.2. Feasibility discussion
The feasibility discussion is performed by simulating the
solar hybrid system under the weather conditions of Beijing
and Hong Kong, which are temperate and extreme humid
and dierent from Shanghai (humid). Also, local TMY
data are used. According to primary simulation results,
the discussed system in Section 5.1 can meet the require-
ment of the conditioned space generally both for Beijing
and Hong Kong (Indoor conditions: 26.7 C, 50%). Thus,
the same system is considered. Considering the fact that
economic performance is mainly determined by initial cost
as manufacture fee and energy price and varies with time
and location, the feasibility of the system will be evaluated
on the basis of thermodynamic performance analysis here.
Table 7 shows the performance of the solar hybrid sys-
tem under the conditions of Beijing and Hong Kong.
Acceptable cooling capacity and moisture removal ability
are achieved, with an average thermal COP of 0.95 and
0.87 for Beijing and Hong Kong. Corresponding solar frac-
tion are 33.3% and 27.7%, respectively. Additionally, sea-
sonal electric power saving rate are about 31% and 22%
for Beijing and Hong Kong. These suggest that the two-
stage design solar hybrid air conditioning system is applica-
ble to a wide range of weather conditions.
Comparisons of the contribution and electric power sav-
ing rate raised by solar driven TSDC unit among Beijing,
Shanghai and Hong Kong are depicted in Fig. 13. As
expected, all the indexes of Shanghai are higher than those
of the other two cities, due to the design of the TSDC unit
is based on Shanghai weather condition. Besides, the rela-
tively lower indexes of Hong Kong can be explained by
that the capacity of the TSDC unit is a bit small to cover
the latent heat load. In practical application, these indexes
can be further increased by optimizing the TSDC unit.
The dierence of thermal COP among the three cities
(Beijing 0.95, Shanghai 0.85, Hong Kong 0.87) is due to
that, on the one hand, the solar radiant intensity of Shang-
hai and Hong Kong are much higher than that of Beijing,
which means more heat will be consumed by the TSDC
unit there; on the other hand, since ambient air is used as
regeneration air, the regeneration procedure is limited by
Table 5
Comparison of hybrid system and conventional system in Shanghai (1st
June to 30 September).
Hybrid system Conventional
system
Installed capacity
TSDC unit 10 kW
VAC unit 20 kW 30 kW
Energy performance
Electric power
consumption (kW h)
10,018 15,151
(2102 kW h by TSDC;
7916 kW h by VAC)
Electric power saving
rate (%)
33.9
Table 6
Performance comparison between two typical indoor conditions (1st June
to 30 September, Shanghai).
Case 1 Case 2
Indoor conditions 22 C, 50% 27 C, 60%
Cooling consumption (kW h) 28,072 19,776
Electric power consumption (kW h) 15,128 10,018
Contribution of moisture removal by TSDC
unit (%)
52.5 68.8
Solar fraction (%) 23.6 33.5
Electric power saving rate (%) 26.7 33.9
Table 7
Performance of solar hybrid system in Beijing and Hong Kong (1st June to
30 September).
Beijing Hong
Kong
Solar TSDC unit
Average cooling capacity (kW) 8.3 7.6
Average moisture removal (g/kg) 7.4 7.7
Average thermal COP 0.95 0.87
Hybrid system
Contribution to moisture removal by the TSDC
unit (%)
56.5 55.2
Solar fraction (%) 33.3 27.7
Electric power saving rate (%) 31.0 21.5
Fig. 13. Performance comparisons among Beijing, Shanghai and Hong
Kong.
D. La et al. / Solar Energy 85 (2011) 29973009 3007
the high humid condition for Shanghai and Hong Kong,
which leads to relatively lower dehumidication and cool-
ing potential (Henning, 2007). As a result, the seasonal
average thermal COP of Beijing (0.95) is higher than those
of Shanghai (0.85) and Hong Kong (0.87), which are of
about the same.
6. Conclusions
By combining solar driven two-stage rotary desiccant
cooling and air-source vapor compression air-conditioning,
a solar hybrid desiccant air conditioning system was
designed and installed in an oce building. Its performance
was monitored during the summer of 2008, from July to
September. The experimental results were presented and
discussed. Based on the installed system, a simulation
model was created in TRNSYS simulation studio. Detailed
theoretical analysis was performed. Following conclusions
can be drawn:
(1) The operation of the studied solar driven two-stage
desiccant cooling system is conrmed to be reliable
and energy ecient. Under typical local condition,
it can achieve an average cooling capacity 10.9 kW,
with corresponding average thermal COP and electric
COP reaching 1.24 and 11.48, respectively.
(2) To ensure the air quality of supply air, vapor com-
pression air conditioning system is advised to be
incorporated in humid climate, especially for the area
without good solar radiant intensity.
(3) Seasonal analysis on the solar hybrid system suggests
that the solar driven TSDC unit can handle about
33% of the cooling load, with an average thermal
COP of 0.85 under Shanghai summer condition.
Moreover, it removes about 69% of the moisture
load. As a result, the electric power consumption is
reduced by about 34% in comparison with conven-
tional system.
(4) Indoor conditions, which have signicant inuence
on system energy performance, should be kept at rel-
atively high level based on local climate and standard.
(5) The solar hybrid system is feasible to not only humid
weather condition (Shanghai) but also temperate
(Beijing) and extreme humid (Hong Kong) weather
conditions. Thermal COP of 0.95 and 0.87, with a
solar fraction of 33.3% and 27.7%, can be achieved
under Beijing and Hong Kong weather conditions.
Corresponding seasonal electric power saving rates
are about 31% and 22%, respectively.
It is proved that the two-stage rotary desiccant cooling
system is feasible for solar driven air-conditioning applica-
tion. Being incorporated with vapor compression system,
it can deal with most of the latent load and thus save elec-
tric power greatly. These mean that the hybrid energy sys-
tem is promising and worthwhile for future research and
application.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the State Key Science
and Technologies Program under the Contract No.
2008BAJ12B01, and Shanghai International Collaboration
Program under the Contract No. 09160702300.
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