Parametric Study of Passive Solar Regenerator for Liquid Desiccant based Air Conditioning System

Abstract

Challenges like rising green house gas emissions, pollution and energy scarcity have forced us to look for alternative
technologies in various technological fields. Alternative air conditioning technologies, which can use renewable energy
sources are being investigated. Liquid desiccant based air conditioning is one such promising alternative which can run on
solar thermal energy or waste heat. In this work, an indoor test set up for testing a novel solar passive regenerator with 1 m2
net area was prepared. The device, which has no internal electrical power consumption, can use solar thermal energy for
regeneration of liquid desiccant. This device would not lead to dust contamination of liquid desiccant (LD) unlike other solar
collector cum regenerators reported in literature.
A basin heater was provided for simulating solar radiation and LD temperature in basin could be controlled with the help of a
temperature controller, which switched the heater on and off as required. The performance of the device in terms of water
condensation rate and potential latent cooling rate were evaluated. The device has potential to provide 180 W latent cooling
with solar COP up to 0.202 at 892 W/m2 solar irradiance and 8.3 km/h wind velocity. The performance is expected to improve
at higher wind velocities, by reducing re-evaporation of water and improving cooling of glass cover.