international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163

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Experimental investigation of solar driven

desiccant air conditioning system based on
silica gel coated heat exchanger

Amit Kumar *, Avadhesh Yadav

Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Article history: A silica gel coated heat exchanger based air conditioning system driven by the evacuated
Received 13 February 2016 tube solar water heater has been experimentally investigated. The system has been oper-
Received in revised form 20 April ated for two different modes namely cooling with dehumidification mode and heating with
2016 humidification mode in summer and winter season respectively. The system performance
Accepted 13 May 2016 is analyzed in terms of regeneration rate, dehumidification rate and thermal coefficient of
Available online 18 May 2016 performance (COPth). Experimental results demonstrated that, for cooling and dehumidifi-
cation mode, the process air is cooled by an average temperature of 8.5 C. A better
Keywords: dehumidification rate can be achieved by using pre-cooling before dehumidification process.
Evacuated tube solar water heater Post-cooling after dehumidification process is found to be advantageous for cooling capac-
Silica gel coated heat exchanger ity and COPth. For heating with humidification mode, the process air is heated by an average
Cooling tower temperature of 13.3 C with an average increment in humidity ratio of 1.9 g/kg. It is found
Direct evaporative cooling unit: heat that the average COPth of the system is 0.45 and 0.87 for cooling and heating mode respectively.
exchanger 2016 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

tude exprimentale de systme de conditionnement dair

solaire dshydratant base sur un changeur de chaleur
enrob de gel de silice
Mots cls : Chauffe-eau solaire tube sous vide ; changeur de chaleur enrob de gel de silice ; Tour de refroidissement ; Systme de
refroidissement vaporatif direct: changeur de chaleur

residential, commercial buildings and industrial processes. Con-

1. Introduction ventional vapour compression systems are used to fulfil that
requirement of air conditioning.These systems consume a large
In recent years, with the rapid development of technology and amount of high grade energy which imposes a major crisis to
society, the need for air conditioning has been on increase in the energy and environment. Thus, it strives the need for the

* Corresponding author. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, Haryana 136119, India.
Tel.: +91-9050254684.
E-mail address: amitror60@gmail.com (A. Kumar).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2016.05.008
0140-7007/ 2016 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
52 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163

system by the combination of DCHE and regenerative evapo-

Nomenclature rative cooler. A switch time period of 50900 s was used to cool
down desiccant coated heat exchanger before dehumidifica-
Ad dehumidification rate [kg/hr]
tion process. Three different optimal switch times have been
Ap area of solar collector [m2]
used for different regeneration temperatures. Zhao et al. (2014)
COPth thermal coefficient of performance
DCHE desiccant coated heat exchanger experimentally investigated a solar driven SCHE dehumidifi-
DEC direct evaporative cooling unit cation unit to provide continuous dehumidification. Effect of
HEX heat exchanger cycle time and ambient conditions were also evaluated. It was
hin enthalpy of process air at inlet of the found that the required regeneration temperature was in the
system [kJ/kg] range of 5080 C. Dehumidification capacity and thermal co-
hin (HEX) enthalpy of process air at inlet of the efficient of performance were increased with increase in the
heat exchanger [kJ/kg] inlet air humidity ratio. The cycle time influenced signifi-
hin (SCHE) enthalpy of process air at inlet of the cantly the system performance. Li et al. (2015) experimentally
SCHE [kJ/kg] and theoretically investigated the heat and mass transfer char-
enthalpy of process air at outlet of the acteristics of a desiccant-coated fin-tube heat exchanger. It was
hout
system [kJ/kg] found that the air velocity, temperature and moisture content
hout (HEX) enthalpy of process air at outlet of the of the desiccant affect the average overall mass-transfer co-
heat exchanger [kJ/kg] efficient. Wang et al. (2016) investigated a solar powered self-
hout (SCHE) enthalpy of process air at outlet of the cooled solid desiccant cooling system based on desiccant coated
SCHE [kJ/kg] heat exchanger and regenerative evaporative cooler. In the
I solar intensity [W/m2] system, the performance of the evaporative cooler was in-
ma mass flow rate of process/regeneration creased by using dry air produced by desiccant coated heat
air [kg/s] exchanger. The results show that the COP of the system was
Qc cooling capacity [W] increased by 6% by using regenerative evaporative cooler. The
Qs solar energy [W] concept of pre-cooling of process air before dehumidification
Rc regeneration rate [kg/hr] process was found to be advantageous for adsorption capac-
SCHE silica gel coated heat exchanger ity of desiccant material. Hu et al. (2015) experimentally
t DE dehumidification time period investigated and analyzed a SCHE to evaluate the effect of water
tR regeneration time period temperature, air temperature, air humidity ratio and air ve-
Yin (SCHE) humidity ratio of process air at inlet of locity on average dehumidification rate and thermal coefficient
SCHE [kg/kg] of performance. It was found that the average dehumidifica-
Yout (SCHE) humidity ratio of process air at outlet of tion rate and coefficient of performance could be increased by
SCHE [kg/kg] pre-cooling of process air before dehumidification process. Jiang
et al. (2015) proposed and fabricated a composite silica gel coated
heat exchanger. It was found that pre cooling before dehu-
midification process increased the dehumidification capacity
recent growing interest in alternative air conditioning systems, of desiccant material and thermal COP of the system. Khalid
such as solar powered desiccant air conditioning system. In et al. (2009) presented the results of experimental and simu-
recent years, numerous researchers have experimentally and lation investigation of a solar assisted pre-cooled hybrid desiccant
theoretically investigated the solar powered/assisted desic- cooling system. The results demonstrate that the COP of the
cant air conditioning systems. In very recent years, a new concept system was increased by using indirect evaporative cooler for
of desiccant coated heat exchanger air conditioning system has pre-cooling and direct evaporative cooler for post-cooling of
been developed and investigated. Ge et al. (2010) experimen- process air. Some researchers worked on solar driven desic-
tally compared silica gel and polymer coated fin-tube heat cant cooling/heating system. Li et al. (2011) studied a two stage
exchangers. It was found that the DCHE overcome the adsorp- rotary cooling/heating system which was driven by evacuated
tion heat during desiccant dehumidification process and achieve glass tube solar air collectors. The results demonstrated that
good dehumidification performance under given conditions. the system could provide satisfied supply air for winter and
The SCHE performed better as compared to the polymer coated summer air conditioning. Li et al. (2012) experimentally in-
heat exchanger. Ge et al. (2011) developed a mathematical model vestigated a solar driven desiccant cooling/heating system. For
to predict the performance of SCHE cooling system under ARI hot and humid air condition, the system supplied air at 22 C
summer condition and optimized the copper tube external di- and 60% RH with a moisture removal capacity of 89 g/kg. In
ameter and distance between the fins. Ge et al. (2012) proposed winter, the system produced hot and humid air with a tem-
and developed a mathematical model of solar driven DCHE perature increment of 13 C. Some researchers worked on
cooling system by combing the mathematical models of dif- regeneration of silica gel. Sant and Jiang (1993) reported that
ferent components to investigate the performance of the system. regeneration rate of the desiccant material can be increased
Two desiccant coated heat exchangers were used to produce by increasing the regeneration temperature. Pramuang and Exell
a continuous supply of air conditioning with an optimum switch (2007) found that regeneration rate and the regeneration ef-
time of 2 minutes. It was found that the system provided sat- ficiency were greatly affected by the solar radiation, but slightly
isfied air conditioning to indoor space. Ge et al. (2013) developed affected by initial moisture content of silica gel. The silica gel
a mathematical model of a self-cooled solid desiccant cooling can be regenerated at a regeneration temperature of 40 C.
 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163
The main objectives of this experimental work are to in-
vestigate the practical application at domestic level of a solar
driven solid desiccant air conditioning system for summer and
winter season of northern India and also to evaluate the cooling/
heating capacity of the system. The experimental setup has
been fabricated and installed at NIT Kurukshetra, India [2958
(latitude) north and 7653 (longitude) east].
2. Experimental setup
Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram and photograph of the ex-
perimental setup. The main components of the experimental
setup are:
evacuated tube solar water heater
silica gel coated heat exchanger (SCHE)
cooling tower
direct evaporative cooling unit (DEC)
heat exchanger
2.1. Evacuated tube solar water heater
It has 15 evacuated tubes and a header which is at an angle
of 30 relative to horizontal surface with south facing. The
evacuated tube has 2 coaxial tubes, namely glass and ab-
sorber tube. The length, outer diameters of the glass and
absorber tube is 1500 mm, 47 mm and 37 mm respectively. The
header has a cross section of 100 140 mm2 with a length of
1160 mm respectively.
2.2. Silica gel coated heat exchanger
SCHE is constructed on the basic structure of shell and tube
type heat exchanger with water capacity of 17.3 L as shown
in Fig. 2. It has 64 aluminium tubes having a diameter of
25.4 mm. The column chromatography silica gel is used as the
coating desiccant material in this heat exchanger. Firstly, the
silica gel particles are coated on the aluminium tubes of heat
exchanger and then the aluminium tubes are dried and soaked
in the silica gel solution repeatedly. The weight of silica gel
coated on aluminium tubes is 1.7 kg.
2.3. Cooling tower
The cooling tower is used to produce cooling water for SCHE
during the dehumidification process and also for heat ex-
changer in pre-cooling dehumidification. It has a cylindrical
drum with a water capacity of 50 L and a cellulose pad having
a rectangular cross sectional area of 610 305 mm2 with a width
of 51 mm. A water pump is used to circulate cooling water in
SCHE and heat exchanger. The outlet water of the SCHE and
heat exchanger is sprayed on the cellulose pad to regenerate
the cooling water.
2.4. Direct evaporative cooling unit
DEC is used for post cooling of process air after dehumidifi-
cation process. It has a rectangular container with a water
53
capacity of 25 L and a cellulose pad having a rectangular cross
sectional area of 305 305 mm2 with a width of 100 mm. A water
pump is used to spray water to the top of the cellulose pad
from the water container. The effectiveness of DEC depends
on dry air produced by SCHE.
2.5. Heat exchanger
The heat exchanger is used for sensible cooling of process air
before dehumidification process. Fig. 3 shows the schematic
diagram and a photographic view of the heat exchanger. It is
constructed on the basic structure of shell and tube type heat
exchanger with water capacity of 18 L. The main structure of
heat exchanger is made of galvanized iron sheet with 1 mm
thickness. Heat exchanger is a combination of three identical
heat exchangers having a cross section area of 317.5 317.5 mm2
with a length of 88.9 mm. Each heat exchanger has 64 alu-
minium tubes. Water flows outside the aluminium tubes of heat
exchanger and process air passes through aluminium tubes
of heat exchanger.
3. Working principle of experimental setup
The system has been used to produce cooling and heating
during summer and winter season respectively. A schematic
illustration of state changes during the cooling with dehu-
midification mode and heating with humidification mode is
represented on psychrometric charts in Fig. 4. The experi-
ments for cooling with dehumidification mode were conducted
on July 20, 2015 whereas experiments for heating with hu-
midification mode was conducted on December 27, 2015 and
December 28, 2015.
For cooling in summer, the system had been operated for,
firstly regeneration process, then rest time and finally for de-
humidification process. During the regeneration process,
experimental setup was exposed to the Sun at 09:00 hr and
reading was recorded from 10:00 hr to 14:00 hr. The valves 2,
4 were opened while the valves 1, 3, 5, 6 were closed. The evacu-
ated tube solar water heater produced the hot water and this
hot water was transferred to the SCHE through connecting pipes
due to thermosyphon phenomenon. Then the regeneration air
(ambient air) was pumped in the SCHE with the help of axial
fan. The water vapours were transferred from the desiccant
material to the regeneration air due to vapour pressure dif-
ference. The desiccant material was completely regenerated
at 14:00 hr then the hot water was drained out from the SCHE.
A rest time period of 1 hour was maintained between the re-
generation and dehumidification process, so that the desiccant
material could transfer its regeneration heat to the atmo-
sphere. Now, the dehumidification process was started at
15:00 hr. The valves 1, 3, 5, 6 were opened while the valves 2,
4 were closed and the cooling water was circulated in the SCHE
and heat exchanger. The process air (state A) first entered in
the heat exchanger in which it was sensibly cooled to state
B. After being cooled, the process air (state B) flowed through
the SCHE in which it was dehumidified and cooled to state C.
Finally, the process air was cooled to state D by DEC. The de-
humidification process was completed at 18:00 hr as the
desiccant material was completely saturated.
54 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163

(a)

(b)
Fig. 1 (a) Schematic diagram and (b) photograph of the experimental setup.
 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163 55

Fig. 2 Three-dimensional view, schematic diagram and photographic view of the SCHE.

Fig. 3 Schematic diagram and photographic view of the heat exchanger.

For heating in winter, outlet air of regeneration process sup-
plied the required heating and humidification effect. In this
mode the system did not require heat exchanger, cooling tower
and DEC. The system had been operated for, firstly adsorp-
tion process and then for regeneration process. In the adsorption
process was started at 18:00 hr. The ambient air was pumped
in SCHE. The adsorption of desiccant material started because
water vapour was transferred from high vapour pressure
(ambient air) to low vapour pressure (desiccant material). At
00:00 hr, the desiccant material was completely saturated. In
the next morning, at 09:00 hr, the experimental setup had been
exposed to the Sun. Then the regeneration process was started.
The evacuated tube solar water heater produced the hot water
and this hot water was transferred to SCHE through connect-
ing pipes due to thermosyphon phenomenon. The process air
(ambient air) was pumped into SCHE, in which it was heated

Fig. 4 Different process modes: (a) cooling and dehumidification (b) heating and humidification plotted in a psychometric
chart.
56 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163

Table 1 Measuring devices specifications.

Sr. no. Measurement Sensors Operational range Accuracy
1 Water temperature PT100 RTD 0 C to 200 C 0.3 C
2 Air relative humidity (RH) and temperature Hygrometer 0 to 100% 2%
10 C to 60 C 0.3C
3 Air flow rate Anemometer 0 to 45 m/s 2%
4 Solar intensity Pyranometer 0 to 2000 W/m2 2 W/m2

and humidified (states AC) and the data were recorded from 5.1. For cooling with dehumidification mode
11:00 hr to 16:30 hr. At 16:30 hr, the desiccant material was com-
pletely regenerated then it was unable to add moisture in Performances of the system are evaluated in terms of regen-
process air. eration rate, dehumidification rate, cooling capacity and thermal
coefficient of performance (COPth).
Regeneration rate ( RC ) can be given as

4. Measuring instruments and uncertainty

 a ( Yout (SCHE) Yin (SCHE) )
RC = m (3)
analysis
Dehumidification rate ( Ad ) can be given as
Different parameters measured in these experiments are:
 a ( Yin (SCHE) Yout (SCHE) )
Ad = m (4)
water temperature
air temperature and relative humidity where Yout and Yin are humidity ratios of process air at outlet
solar intensity and inlet condition of SCHE and m  a is the mass flow rate of
air flow rate the process air.
The cooling effect produced by heat exchanger can be given
These parameters are measured by the following devices as
as given in Table 1.
The uncertainty analysis used in this paper is based on the  a (hin (HEX) hout (HEX) )
Cooling effect = m (5)
root mean square method as per Kline and McClintock (1953).
The relationship for error analysis is given as
where hin (HEX) and hout (HEX) are the enthalpies of the process air
at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger.
1
f 2 f
2
f
2
2
The cooling effect produced by SCHE can be given
z = (y1 )2 + (y2 )2 + + (yn )2 (1)
y1 y2 yn as

1
 a (hin (SCHE) hout (SCHE) )
Cooling effect = m (6)
z f y1 2 f y2 2 f yn
2 2 2 2 2
= + ++ (2)
z y1 z y2 z yn z where hin (SCHE) and hout (SCHE) are the enthalpies of the process
air at the inlet and outlet of the SCHE.
where f is a function of independent variable, y1 , y2, etc. stand The cooling capacity of the system can be given as
for the variables of the function, y1 , y2 etc. are the abso-
lute error associated with the variables and z means the  a (hin hout )
Cooling capacity = m (7)
z
relative error. Based on these relationships, the test relative un-
certainties are given as in Table 2. Thermal coefficient of performance of the system ( COPth )
can be defined as the ratio of cooling capacity ( Q C ) to total solar
radiation energy ( Q s ).

5. Performance indices

tDE
 a (hin hout )
m
0
t DE
The thermal performance of the system is evaluated sepa- COPth = Q c Q = (8)
0 IAp
tR
s
rately for cooling with dehumidification mode and heating with
humidification mode. tR

Table 2 Test relative uncertainties of different performance indices.

Regeneration Dehumidification Cooling Adsorption Humidification Heating COPth
rate rate capacity rate rate capacity
Error (%) 5.3 3.2 3.7 16.5 8.5 3.1 3.2
 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163 57

where hin and hout are the enthalpies of process air at the inlet
and outlet of the system, I is the solar intensity, Ap is the area
of solar collector, t DE and t R are the dehumidification time
period and regeneration time period respectively.
5.2. For heating with humidification mode
Performances of the system in this mode are evaluated in terms
of humidification rate, thermal coefficient of performance
(COPth).
Humidification rate ( RC ) can be given as
 a ( Yout (SCHE) Yin (SCHE) )
RC = m
The heating capacity of system can be given as
 a (hout hin )
Heating capacity = m
Thermal coefficient of performance of the system ( COPth )
can be calculated in this mode, which can be given as
 a (hout hin )
m vary from 27 C to 26 C and 15.9 g/kg to 20.5 g/kg respec-
COPth =
IAp
6. Results and discussion
The system performance has been tested under northern Indian
climatic conditions which is evaluated by the inlet and outlet
air conditions, which is measured in terms of temperature and
relative humidity. The mass flow rate of the process and re-
generation air is 0.046 kg/s.
6.1. Cooling results in summer
Figs. 5 and 6 demonstrate the regeneration performance. The
hot water temperature of the SCHE increases continuously to
its maximum value 74.8 C and then slightly decreases at the
end. The results show that the hot water temperature
increases with solar intensity, but after 12:45 hr solar inten-
sity decreases and hot water temperature still increases this
is because the collector temperature is higher than the water
temperature. The average hot water temperature is 64.1 C with
average solar intensity of 872 W/m2.
The regeneration rate of desiccant material increases with
the hot water temperature to its maximum value of 0.57 kg/
hr at 12:15 hr. This is because, if the surface temperature of
desiccant material increases, water vapour pressure in the pores
of desiccant material also increases which results in mois-
ture transfer from desiccant material to regeneration air at high
rate. After 12:15 hr, water vapour pressure in pores becomes
(9) low because of continuous transfer of moisture, which results
in a continuous decrement in the regeneration rate irrespec-
tive of increase in the water temperature.
Fig. 7a shows the inlet and outlet air conditions of the system
(10) on psychometric chart. The temperature and humidity ratio
of the process air at inlet vary from 36.2 C to 34 C and 19.3 g/
kg to 20.7 g/kg respectively. This is a general behaviour of
ambient air in north India during an evening of the summer.
The temperature and humidity ratio of the process air at outlet
(11) tively. Thus the results demonstrate a high potential of the
system at domestic level during the summer, even though the
supply air condition does not lie in the comfort zone. Fig. 7b
shows the average thermodynamic process of the system.
Firstly, the process air is pre-cooled (states AB) with an average
temperature of 4.1 C and this result is defending the utiliza-
tion of heat exchanger before dehumidification process.
Then the air is cooled and dehumidified (states BC) with
an average temperature and humidity ratio of 1.5 C and
3.2 g/kg respectively. This result shows that the SCHE has an
ability to handle the latent load and sensible load simultane-
ously. DEC cools down (states CD) the process air with an
average temperature of 3 C.
The cooling and dehumidification process was started at
15:00 hr. Fig. 8 shows the variation of the dehumidification rate
of process air and ambient air humidity ratio with time. Ini-
tially, the dehumidification rate is maximum (0.71 kg/hr), this
is because, at that time, the water vapour pressure in the pores

Water temperature Solar Intensity

80 1050
75 1000
70 950
Temperture (C)

900
Solar intensity

65
(W/m2)

850
60
800
55
750
50 700
45 650
40 600

Time of day (hours)

Fig. 5 Variation in hot water temperature of the SCHE and solar intensity with time on July 20, 2015.
58 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163
Regeneration rate
0.7
0.6
Regeneration rate (kg/h)
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0 40
Time of day (hours)
Fig. 6 Variation in the regeneration rate of desiccant material and hot water temperature of the SCHE with time on July 20,
2015.
of desiccant material is low and with the dehumidification
process pores are filled by water vapours, this results a con-
tinuous decrement in the dehumidification rate. The average
dehumidification rate is 0.42 kg/hr.
The average dehumidification rate of the process air is in-
creased by 15.3% by using pre-cooling dehumidification as
compared to without pre-cooling dehumidification at nearly
similar regeneration and dehumidification conditions of the
desiccant material. This is because, with the decrease in tem-
perature of the desiccant materials, the adsorption capacity
of the desiccant material increases. The average cooling water
temperature is 27.6 C.
Fig. 9 shows the variation in cooling effect produced by the
heat exchanger with time. The cooling effect produced by the
heat exchanger depends on the cooling water temperature of
cooling tower. The cooling effect does not change signifi-
cantly because cooling water temperature varies from 27.4 C
to 27.8 C. The cooling water temperature further depends on
ambient air condition. As humidity ratio of the ambient air in-
creases then the temperature of cooling water also increases
slightly. The average cooling effect produced by the heat ex-
changer is 196 W.
Fig. 10 shows the variation in cooling effect produced by the
SCHE with time. The SCHE produces latent and sensible cooling
effect simultaneously so the cooling effect produced by the
SCHE depends on the moisture adsorbed by the silica gel and
circulating cooling water temperature. The adsorption heat is
produced by SCHE during dehumidification process. This ad-
sorption heat is continuously removed by circulating cooling
water. Initially, the latent cooling dominates on sensible cooling
and then sensible cooling dominates over latent cooling because
the adsorption capacity of the silica gel decreases with process.
The average cooling effect produced by the SCHE is 442 W.
Fig. 11 illustrates the variation in cooling capacity of the
system with time. The cooling capacity decreases continu-
ously from 839 W to 487 W. The cooling capacity of the system
is a combine effect of sensible and latent cooling produced by
Water temperature
80
75
70
Temperture (C)
65
60
55
50
45
the system. Latent cooling depends upon the adsorption ca-
pacity of desiccant material which decreases continuously
during the dehumidification process, so this leads to signifi-
cant decrement in the latent cooling. The performance of the
DEC unit depends upon dry air produced by the SCHE so per-
formance of the DEC also decreases with the dehumidification
process. The average cooling capacity of the system is 648 W.
The average COPth of the system in cooling with dehumidifi-
cation mode is 0.45.
The performance of direct evaporative cooling unit depends
upon the dehumidified air produced by the SCHE. Fig. 12 rep-
resents the inlet and outlet process air conditions of DEC. As
the outlet of the SCHE is the inlet of DEC, the humidity ratio
of the process air at inlet of the DEC increases continuously
i.e. it approaches to ambient air humidity ratio, this is because
of adsorption saturation of the silica gel. This results in a con-
tinuous increment in the humidity ratio of the process air at
outlet of the DEC. The temperature of the process air at the
inlet and outlet of the DEC unit decreases continuously during
the process. The temperature difference between the inlet and
outlet of the DEC unit decreases more significantly with the
process. This is because the evaporation of water in DEC de-
creases with the increase in the humidity ratio at inlet.
6.2. Heating performance in winter
Ge et al. (2013) concluded that heating with humidification sup-
plied better comfort than direct solar heating thus system has
been operated for heating with humidification mode only. The
data have been recorded with duration of half hour because
reading does not change significantly in 15 minutes as in summer.
Figs. 1316 show the results of the system performance in winter.
The experiment for the adsorption process was started at 18:00 hr
on December 27, 2015. Fig. 13 shows the variation in adsorption
rate of desiccant material and inlet air humidity ratio with time.
Initially, the adsorption rate of the desiccant material is maximum
(0.38 kg/hr), because the water vapour pressure in the pores of
 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163 59

Fig. 7 (a) Process air conditions at the inlet and outlet of desiccant cooling system. (b) Average thermodynamic process on
psychometric chart.

the desiccant material is low so there is a highest vapour pres-
sure difference between pores and air, which leads to a maximum
moisture transfer rate. Then it decreases continuously to
minimum value (0.02 kg/hr). The continuous decrement in ad-
sorption rate is due to progressive saturation of desiccant material.
The adsorption rate of the desiccant material or the dehu-
midification rate of process air is very low in winter season
as compared to summer season. This is due to low humidity
ratio of ambient air in winter season (6.5 g/kg) as compared
to summer season (19.8 g/kg).
60 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163

Dehumidification rate Inlet air humidity ratio

0.8 0.025
Dehumidification rate (kg/h)
0.7

(Kgwater vapour /kg dryair)

0.02
0.6

Humidity ratio
0.5 0.015
0.4
0.3 0.01
0.2
0.005
0.1
0 0
15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:00
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 8 Variation in the dehumidification rate of process air with time on July 20, 2015.

250

200
Cooling effect (W)

150

100

50

0
15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:00
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 9 Variation in cooling effect produced by the heat exchanger with time on July 20, 2015.

Fig. 14 shows the variation of hot water temperature of the
SCHE, solar intensity and inlet and outlet process air tempera-
tures with time on December 28, 2015. It is observed from the
recorded data that with an average solar intensity of 645 W/
m2 and average ambient air temperature of 14 C, the average
increment in process air temperature is 13.3 C. The tempera-
ture difference depends upon the hot water temperature of the
SCHE.
Fig. 15 represents the variation of the humidification rate
of the process air and ambient air humidity ratio. Ambient air
humidity does not change much. The humidification rate of
the process air increases with the hot water temperature to

700
600
Cooling effect (W)

500
400
300
200
100
0
15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:00
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 10 Variation in cooling effect produced by the SCHE with time on July 20, 2015.
 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163 61

700

Cooling capicity (W) 650

600
550
500
450
400
350
15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:00
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 11 Variation in cooling capacity of the system with time on July 20, 2015.

Inlet temperature Outlet temperature

Inlet humidity ratio Outlet humidity ratio
33 0.021
32 0.02

(kg/ kg of dry air)

31
Temperture (C)

0.019

Humidity ratio
30
0.018
29
0.017
28
0.016
27
26 0.015
25 0.014
24 0.013
15:00 15:15 15:30 15:45 16:00 16:15 16:30 16:45 17:00 17:15 17:30 17:45 18:00
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 12 Variation in humidity ratio and temperature of process air at inlet and outlet of direct evaporative cooling unit with
time on July 20, 2015.

its maximum value of 0.69 kg/hr at 14:30 hr and then it de- increases the water vapour pressure in the pores of desic-
creases to its minimum value of 0.03 kg/hr. This is because, with cant material. So the moisture is transfer from desiccant
increase in hot water temperature of the SCHE, the tempera- material to process air. After 14:30 hr, the amount of water
ture of desiccant material also increases, which further vapour in the pores of desiccant material decreases which

Adsorption rate Inlet air humidity ratio

0.4 0.008
Adsorption rate (kg/hr)

0.35 0.007
(Kgwater vapour /kg dry air)

0.3 0.006
Humidity ratio

0.25 0.005
0.2 0.004
0.15 0.003
0.1 0.002
0.05 0.001
0 0
18:00 18:30 19:00 19:30 20:00 20:30 21:00 21:30 22:00 22:30 23:00 23:30 00:00
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 13 Variation in adsorption rate of desiccant material and inlet air humidity ratio with time on December 27, 2015.
62 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163

Hot water temperature Inlet air temperature Outlet air temperature Solar Intensity
70 900
800

Solar intensity (W/m2)

60
700
Temperture (C)

50
600
40 500
30 400
300
20
200
10 100
0 0
11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 14 Variation in hot water temperature of SCHE, solar intensity and inlet and outlet air temperature with time on
December 28, 2015.

results decrement in the humidification rate. At 16:30 hr, the

humidification rate becomes very low which shows that the
desiccant material is about to complete regeneration.
Fig. 16 demonstrates the variation of heating capacity and
COPth of the system with time. The heating capacity of the
system increases continuously to its maximum value of 1299 W
at 14:30 hr and then decreases. The heating capacity is a
combined effect of latent and sensible heating. The latent
heating (addition of moisture in process air) increases until
14:30 hr and then decreases. The sensible heating (increment
in process air temperature) increases until 15:00 hr and
then decreases. This results in the variation of net heating
capacity of the system. The COPth of the system increases
sharply until 14:30 hr because heating capacity increases con-
tinuously during this time. After 14:30 hr, COPth increases
smoothly; this is because heating capacity and solar inten-
sity both decrease. Solar intensity decreases more rapidly
than heating capacity because of sensible heat storage capac-
ity of water of the SCHE. The average COPth of the system is
0.87 (Figs. 1416).
7. Conclusions
In this work, a solar driven solid desiccant air conditioning
system has been proposed and experimentally investigated.
The system produces cooling effect in summer season and
heating effect in winter season of northern India. The follow-
ing conclusions have been extracted from this experimental
investigation.
1. The evacuated tube solar water heater produces hot water
with an average temperature of 64.1 C and 49.4 C in
summer and winter season respectively. This hot water tem-
perature is sufficient to regenerate the desiccant material
of the system. So quite low regeneration temperature is re-
quired for the SCHE. The hot water temperature of the SCHE
depends upon the available solar intensity, whereas the re-
generation rate of the desiccant material or humidification
rate of process air depends upon the hot water tempera-
ture of the SCHE.

Humidification rate Inlet air humidity ratio

0.8 0.008
0.7 0.007
Humidification rate (kg/hr)

(Kgwater vapour /kg dry air)

0.6 0.006
Humidity ratio

0.5 0.005
0.4 0.004
0.3 0.003
0.2 0.002
0.1 0.001
0 0
11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30
Time of day (hours)

Fig. 15 Variation in humidification rate of process air and inlet air humidity ratio with time on December 28, 2015.
 international journal of refrigeration 69 (2016) 5163
Heating capacity
1400
1200
Heating capicity (W)
1000
800
600
400
200
0 0
11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30 16:00 16:30
Time of day (hours)
Fig. 16 Variation in heating capacity and COPth of the system with time on December 28, 2015.
2. The regeneration and adsorption rate of the desiccant ma-
terial also depends upon the inlet air moisture content. The
average adsorption rate of desiccant material is signifi-
cantly higher in summer season as compared to the winter
season. The average regeneration rate of desiccant mate-
rial is higher in winter with lower regeneration temperature
as compared to summer with higher regeneration
temperature.
3. In summer season, the system cools down the process air
with an average temperature of 8.5 C. The average cooling
capacity and COP th of the system are 648 W and 0.45
respectively.
4. The SCHE can handle both sensible and latent loads with
a good dehumidification capacity with an average cooling
water temperature of 27.6 C. The average dehumidifica-
tion rate of process air is increased by 15.3% due to use of
pre-cooling before dehumidification process. The post cooling
with DEC after the dehumidification process is advanta-
geous to both cooling capacity and COPth.
5. In winter, the system heats up the process air with an
average increment in temperature of 13.3 C and in humid-
ity ratio of 1.9 g water vapour/kg dry air. The average heating
capacity and COP th of the system are 847 W and 0.87
respectively.
6. The outlet process air conditions of the system for summer
season as well as winter season do not lie in comfort con-
dition, but the results demonstrate the high potential of the
solar powered air conditioning system in northern Indian
climatic condition for summer and winter season.
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