Improving performance of two-stage desiccant cooling system by analyzing different regeneration configurations

Abstract

Energy consumption and related environmental issues are one of the most important concerns in the world, and contribution of building sector in total energy consumption is extremely large. Two-stage desiccant cooling system has become a powerful alternative to the traditional systems because of its benefits such as effective removal of the air latent heat, low greenhouse gases emissions and low grade thermal energy use. In this paper, different regeneration methods for two-stage desiccant cooling systems have been simulated. New regeneration configuration for desiccant wheels causes thermal coefficient of performance and exergy efficiency rise by 15.5% and 21.4%, and reach 0.72 and 0.58, respectively. It is still more important that the proposed regeneration configuration leads to a decrease in required regeneration temperature 4.1°C which improves the potential of the system for application of solar energy and waste heat. Moreover, the effect of different combination of regeneration temperatures on system performance have been studied. It is found that, for each system configuration, there is an optimum combination of regeneration temperatures for achieving the maximum thermal coefficient of performance and exergy efficiency.