Experimental Investigation on Hybrid Liquid Desiccant Cooling System for Hot and Humid Climatic Conditions of India

A liquid desiccant dehumidification system (LDDS) combined with vapour compression refrigeration system (VCRS) has been experimentally studied. The structural packing of dehumidifier/regenerator is done by honeycomb PVC fills and provides the sufficient surface area for proper mixing of desiccant solution and process air for optimum moisture exchange. Calcium chloride (\({\mathrm{C}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{C}\mathrm{l}}_{2}\)) is used as a desiccant to perform the operation of LDDS, and R134a is used as a refrigerant in the VCRS to cool the hot dehumidified air. In this study, moisture removal rate (MRR) and dehumidification effectiveness (\({\varepsilon }_{\mathrm{d}\mathrm{e}\mathrm{h}})\) are calculated to estimate the performance of dehumidifier, and coefficient of performance (COP) is calculated to evaluate the performance of the whole system and VCRS without LDDS. These constraints are considered at different air temperatures and velocity. The maximum increase in COP of system and MRR is 8.09% and 26.75%, respectively, as compared with VCRS only, keeping constant air temperature of 35 °C. The maximum dehumidification effectiveness is decreased by 26.32% for the same case.