Modelling and Investigation of A Solar Assisted Liquid Desiccant Dehumidification Air-Conditioning System

Advanced air-conditioning systems driven by solar energy may provide alternative solutions for better indoor thermal comfort and enhanced energy efficiency in the built environment than that offered by the conventional air-conditioning systems. This paper presents the development and modelling of a novel solar assisted liquid desiccant dehumidification air-conditioning system that can be used in new buildings or for existing building retrofits. Various aspects such as proper system design, selection of appropriate desiccants, and simplified modelling of the main system components are discussed. Lithium chloride solution is utilized as a working fluid owing to its excellent dehumidification performance, and low regeneration temperature if it is used with randomly filled packing-bed counter-current flow absorber/regenerator to control the air humidity ratio. A thorough simulation platform for the proposed system is developed by using the Matlab SIMULINK through integrating the models of the individual components developed/selected. Based on the SIMULINK platform, a parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of various design and operating variables on the overall system performance, especially on the performance of the absorber/regenerator.