Development and performance evaluation of a passive solar liquid desiccant regenerator

Abstract

Vapour Compression Refrigeration (VCR) cycle that consumes electrical energy dominates airconditioning market today. Production of electrical energy is generally associated with fossil fuel consumption, emission of greenhouse gases and pollution. Air conditioning systems that use waste or renewable energy sources should be investigated as an alternative solution. Liquid desiccant-based air conditioning system (LDAC) is one such a potential candidate. The heat from a solar thermal collector can be supplied to the regeneration process of LDAC systems. A novel solar collector with the goal of no electrical power consumption, simplicity, low cost, and high efficiency was developed in this work for the regeneration of LD (aqueous calcium chloride solution). Condensate output in this device used for water desalination was 3.7 kg/m², which is comparable with the best in the literature. An area of 7.5 m² of such a device with no parasitic power would be needed per kW of latent cooling.

KEYWORDS:

• Solar energy
• liquid desiccant
• regenerator
• air conditioning
• solar still
• green technology

Acknowledgements

The financial grant received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) for the project ‘Development and Demonstration of Passive Solar Regenerator for Liquid Desiccant based Air Conditioning System’ is gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).