Performance study of desiccant coated heat exchanger air conditioning system in winter

• Performance of desiccant coated heat exchanger AC system is predicted.
• Effects of main operation parameters and climatic conditions are discussed.
• Regeneration temperature of 30 °C is recommended under simulation condition.
• Higher ambient humidity ratio results in increased humidity ratio of supply air.
• Temperature of ambient air has neglectable effect on supply air.

Conventional air source heat pump system faces several challenges when adopted in winter season. Solid desiccant air conditioning system can provide humidification and heating power simultaneously and can be driven by low grade thermal energy; it provides a good alternative for air source heat pump systems. However, conventional solid desiccant air conditioning system adopts desiccant wheel with high cost as core component, which hinders the development of such system. Recently, desiccant coated heat exchanger (DCHE) with low initial cost and high efficiency was developed and this paper aims to investigate performance of DCHE air conditioning system adopted in Shanghai winter season. Performance of the system is predicted by a developed mathematical model where supply air states, mass of humidification and coefficient of performance (COP) are adopted as performance indices to evaluate the feasibility and energy utilization ratio of the system. Effects of regeneration water temperature on system performance are analyzed. It is found that under the simulation condition, relatively low regeneration temperature (such as 20 °C) cannot meet the designed standard and relatively high regeneration temperature (such as 40 °C) provides too much extra heating power, thus moderate regeneration temperature around 30 °C is recommended. Meanwhile, switch time is a crucial operation parameter for the system to obtain satisfied supply air, switch time from 40 s to 80 s and from 70 s to 240 s are recommended for transient and average supply air states, respectively. Both mass of humidification and COP increase with increasing regeneration temperature under simulation condition. Also, influences of ambient air temperature and humidity ratio on system performance are discussed to study the feasibility of such system regarding different climatic conditions. Results show that higher humidity ratio of ambient air results in increased humidity ratio of supply air, temperature of ambient air has neglectable effect on supply air. In conclusion, DCHE air conditioning system can be adopted for winter operation with moderate selection of regeneration temperature as well as switch time.