Performance investigation on solid desiccant assisted mobile air conditioning system

Abstract

In the conventional mobile air conditioning system, the temperature and humidity control is achieved by a vapor compression system. This system cools the air down to lower than the dew point temperate of the cabin to control the humidity. Thus, reheating of the air is necessary. These two factors could increase the fuel consumption of the system. To overcome these issues, a solid desiccant assisted mobile air conditioning system is proposed and investigated. The desiccant assisted technology can separate the latent heat load from the sensible heat load, which will effectively increase the evaporating temperature and reduce the power consumption of the compressor. It is proposed to apply the solid desiccant to the mobile air conditioning system to handle most of latent load, while the vapor compression cycle handles the remaining latent load and sensible load. The model of the proposed concept is developed and validated with experimental data. Lastly, the possible configurations of the solid desiccant assisted mobile air conditioning system are discussed.