Investigation of thermal comfort conditions by heat pump Hybridized with phase change Material-based solar desiccant cooling system

Abstract

In response to the challenge of providing energy-efficient thermal comfort in hot and high-humidity cities, this study investigates innovative cooling systems that can mitigate issues of overcooling and excessive energy consumption seen in conventional air conditioning systems. Also, conventional cooling systems contribute to global warming by emitting high levels of greenhouse gases. In this research, two systems Phase Change Material (PCM)-based Solar Desiccant Cooling System (PSDC) and Heat Pump Hybridized with a PCM-based Solar Desiccant Cooling System (HP-PSDC) were investigated for a typical residential house located in Doha (Qatar), Vancouver and Toronto (Canada), and Bangkok (Thailand). According to the findings, the PSDC system provides thermal comfort conditions in Vancouver and Toronto with COP of 1.05 and 1.44, respectively. While in Doha and Bangkok, the innovative system that is HP-PSDC system has better performance when the COP (Coefficient of Performance) of the former is 4.98 and the latter is 4.5. The novelty of this work lies in the approach to balancing thermal comfort conditions with energy consumption. Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) were determined to set design criteria for the selection of the proper system based on the weather conditions of each city by using Design of Experiment (DOE) analysis. According to DOE, the dry bulb temperature, the wet bulb temperature, and the absolute humidity of the ambient air are three key characteristics that must be considered when choosing the appropriate system to provide thermal comfort conditions. It was found that if the wet bulb temperature of the building location is more than 21.5 °C, utilizing the HP-PSDC system can guarantee thermal comfort condition. However, for wet bulb temperatures less than 18.5 °C, the PSDC system is recommended. This research presents implications for the design of sustainable cooling systems, offering energy efficiency improvements and climate-specific system selection guidelines.