Theoretical analysis of heat and mass transfer processes in an evaporative cooling system with zeolite desiccant powered by solar energy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amged Al Ezzi

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Concerns about energy sources depletion and environmental pollution issues have been raised and is a top priority of the global community. Refrigeration machines have been received the major of attention because of their energy consumption and pollution. Different from traditional cooling strategies, desiccant cooling technology (DCT) has been emergent as a promising alternative giving the fact that the economic-ecological air conditioning system is not restricted to hot and dry climates only. In the current experimental study, an advancement solar assisted desiccant cooling system (SADCS) is presented. The advantage is to use only a fraction of the energy of typical compressor-based cooling systems. The advancements have taken place into the dehumidification, evaporator, and regeneration sections. The role of appropriate choosing of the desiccant material type on the adsorption process has been presented, and a Faujasite (FAU) 13X zeolite is utilized in the dehumidification stage. A novel monolayer coating method has conducted. The new coating method has insured no external water vapor condensation ruins the desiccant material during relative humidity working range (20-97) %. Moreover, the new coating method allows to increase the performance of the adsorption and desorption processes, respectively. By giving the coming air stream the ability to pass through and surround the zeolite beads, accessibility to adsorb and desorb water vapor molecules is easier as more rooms are available. That clearly has been stated as 6450 g of zeolite holds 684 g of water in full saturation status within 37 minutes and regenerates by less than 120 [degree]C air temperature within 66 minutes. In the evaporative cooling section, an effective small compact evaporative cooler (CEC) system dealing only with product flow is introduced. The new CEC is utilized direct and indirect evaporation of water mechanisms combined in cross channels to cool air. Dropping air temperature by (5-7) [degree]C has recorded without desiccant stage. Supplying the required regeneration energy from a green energy source was essential in this study. For this purpose, an innovative flat plate double-mesh air solar collector has designed and carried out. In the new collector, a double copper mesh frames were fixing within a double Plexiglas covers flat plate collector. Experimental results show a good consistent with the mathematical model. With an average 0.71 solar fraction and 80 [degree]C exit air temperature, the collector presents 0.73 as thermal efficiency. As the improvements of the desiccant air-conditioning system turns out globally recognized by the progress in different research outcomes, designs, setting up and evaluation methods, it is expected that the system will be one of the most important alternative systems for the maintenance of human's environment comfort and air quality when considering the reduced dependence on conventional energy usage. Present work and results provide a reference data sets related to real adsorption dehumidification process and show that the advancement SADCS has a great potential in the future of the evaporative cooler systems.

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (18) ◽  
pp. 5982
Author(s):  
Lanbo Lai ◽  
Xiaolin Wang ◽  
Gholamreza Kefayati ◽  
Eric Hu

Evaporative cooling technology (ECT) has been deemed as an alternative to the conventional vapor-compression air conditioning system for dry climates in recent years due to its simple structure and low operating cost. Generally speaking, the ECT includes two types of different technologies, direct evaporative cooling (DEC) and indirect evaporative cooling (IEC). Both technologies can theoretically reduce the air temperature to the wet-bulb temperature of outdoor air. The major difference between these two technologies is that DEC will introduce extra moisture to the supply air while IEC will not. The enhanced IEC, Maisotsenko-cycle (M-cyle) IEC, can even bring down the air temperature to the dew point temperature. The ECT integrated with solid desiccant systems, i.e., solid desiccant-assisted evaporative cooling technologies (SDECT), could make the technology applicable to a wider range of weather conditions, e.g., weather with high humidity. In this paper, the recent development of various evaporative cooling technologies (ECT), solid desiccant material and the integration of these two technologies, the SDECT, were thoroughly reviewed with respect to their configuration, optimization and desiccant unit improvement. Furthermore, modeling techniques for simulating SDECT with their pros and cons were also reviewed. Potential opportunities and research recommendations were indicated, which include improving the structure and material of M-cycle IEC, developing novel desiccant material and optimizing configuration, water consumption rate and operation strategy of SDECT system. This review paper indicated that the SDECT system could be a potential replacement for the conventional vapor-compressed cooling system and could be applied in hot and humid environments with proper arrangements.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Kashif ◽  
Muhammad Sultan ◽  
Zahid Mahmood Khan

This study assesses the potential selection of efficient air-conditioning (AC) and cooling systems in order to avoid excess power consumption, mitigation of harmful refrigerants generated by the existing AC systems. Several varieties of active and passive air-conditioning systems i.e. heating ventilating air-conditioning (HVAC), vapor compression air-conditioning (VCAC) conventional direct evaporative cooling (DEC) and indirect evaporative cooling (IEC)  and desiccant air-conditioning (DAC) systems are under practice for the cooling and dehumidification. The storage of agricultural products mainly based on product individual characteristics i.e. respiration rate, transpiration rate and moisture content of that product. Variant ambient air conditions and the type of application are the main parameters for the choice of air-conditioning system to get optimum performance. The DAC system subsidize the coefficient of performance (COP) in humid regions, coastal ranges of developing countries e.g. Karachi and Gawadar (Pakistan) with hot humid climatic conditions. In similar way, hottest regions of the country such as Sibbi, Jacobabad and Multan perform better results when incorporates with M-cycle evaporative cooling system. Variation in ambient air conditions directly affect the cooling load and the choice of sustainable air-conditioning system


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
César Ramos Broliato ◽  
Carlos Roberto Altafini ◽  
Carlos Alberto Costa

Air conditioning for buses is an important incentive tool for the public transport, since it offers comfort to passengers and stimulates the use of this kind of transport which is fundamental to improve urban mobility. Currently, air conditioning equipment for buses is the mechanical vapor compression (MVC) type. However, this kind of system has two main disadvantages: the high financial cost and power consumption by the vehicle engine. The purpose of this study is to develop an evaporative cooler for buses, which is a simple, environmental friendly, low-cost solution that does not use engine power for its operation. The first step was the design and construction of the prototype. The following step was to evaluate the built prototype through performing experimental tests. The prototype presented a saturation efficiency of approximately 70%, airflow rate of 421.5 m³/h and energy consumption of 98.4 W. After determining the prototype technical characteristics, the evaporative cooling system was developed for an urban bus, seeking to meet the air renewal required by ANSI/ASHRAE standard 62.1 and to promote the passenger’s thermal comfort as specified by ISO 7730 and ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55. The thermal comfort provided by the new cooling system was evaluated through the PMV-PPD indexes. A value of 0.35 was obtained for the PMV index and the PPD index obtained a value of 7, indicating that approximately 93% of the passengers will be satisfied regarding their thermal comfort for the established environmental conditions. The evaporative cooling system had a total energy consumption of approximately 0.4 kW, which represents only 5% of the energy that would be consumed by a MVC system. Therefore, the evaporative cooling performance depends on the climatic conditions of the environment, especially humidity. However, when applied in favorable conditions (low humidity), the evaporative cooling system proved to be a viable solution to replace the MVC systems in buses air-conditioning application, where its main advantage is its positive cost-benefit and energy savings.


2013 ◽  
Vol 732-733 ◽  
pp. 531-536
Author(s):  
Tong Hua Zou ◽  
Min Wang ◽  
Sai Feng Deng ◽  
Yong Li

Evaporative cooling technology is a refrigeration technology by water evaporating endothermic, with zero-pollution, environmental-friendly, energy saving, and other advantages, which makes it widely used. Nevertheless, due to its working characteristic, the application of evaporative cooling technology is limited, particularly in some areas with high humidity. Using the liquid desiccant dehumidification and evaporative cooling technology leads to a solution, named liquid desiccant evaporative cooling air conditioning system extends the application of evaporative cooling technology. This article on liquid desiccant evaporative cooling system provides a brief overview about research status, full usage of the low grade thermal energy, the practical application and new development of the system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 80-85
Author(s):  
Denis Igorevich Smagin ◽  
Konstantin Igorevich Starostin ◽  
Roman Sergeevich Savelyev ◽  
Anatoly Anatolyevich Satin ◽  
Anastasiya Romanovna Neveshkina ◽  
...  

One of the ways to achieve safety and comfort is to improve on-board air conditioning systems.The use of air cooling machine determines the air pressure high level at the point of selection from the aircraft engine compressor. Because of the aircraft operation in different modes and especially in the modes of small gas engines, deliberately high stages of selection have to be used for ensuring proper operation of the refrigeration machine in the modes of the aircraft small gas engines. Into force of this, most modes of aircraft operation have to throttle the pressure of the selected stage of selection, which, together with the low efficiency of the air cycle cooling system, makes the currently used air conditioning systems energy inefficient.A key feature of the architecture without air extraction from the main engines compressors is the use of electric drive compressors as a source of compressed air.A comparative analysis of competing variants of on-board air conditioning system without air extraction from engines for longrange aircraft projects was performed at the Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University).The article deals with the main approaches to the decision-making process on the appearance of a promising aircraft on-board air conditioning system at the stage of its conceptual design and formulated the basic requirements for the structure of a complex criterion at different life cycle stages.The level of technical and technological risk, together with a larger installation weight, will require significant costs for development, testing, debugging and subsequent implementation, but at the same time on-board air conditioning system scheme without air extraction from the engines will achieve a significant increase in fuel efficiency at the level of the entire aircraft.


Author(s):  
Yilin Du ◽  
Jan Muehlbauer ◽  
Jiazhen Ling ◽  
Vikrant Aute ◽  
Yunho Hwang ◽  
...  

A rechargeable personal air-conditioning (RPAC) device was developed to provide an improved thermal comfort level for individuals in inadequately cooled environments. This device is a battery powered air-conditioning system with the phase change material (PCM) for heat storage. The condenser heat is stored in the PCM during the cooling operation and is discharged while the battery is charged by using the vapor compression cycle as a thermosiphon loop. The conditioned air is discharged towards a single person through adjustable nozzle. The main focus of the current research was on the development of the cooling system. A 100 W cooling capacity prototype was designed, built, and tested. The cooling capacity of the vapor compression cycle measured was 165.6 W. The PCM was recharged in nearly 8 hours under thermosiphon mode. When this device is used in the controlled built environment, the thermostat setting can be increased so that building air conditioning energy can be saved by about 5–10%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adil Al-Falahi ◽  
Falah Alobaid ◽  
Bernd Epple

The electrical power consumption of refrigeration equipment leads to a significant influence on the supply network, especially on the hottest days during the cooling season (and this is besides the conventional electricity problem in Iraq). The aim of this work is to investigate the energy performance of a solar-driven air-conditioning system utilizing absorption technology under climate in Baghdad, Iraq. The solar fraction and the thermal performance of the solar air-conditioning system were analyzed for various months in the cooling season. It was found that the system operating in August shows the best monthly average solar fraction (of 59.4%) and coefficient of performance (COP) (of 0.52) due to the high solar potential in this month. Moreover, the seasonal integrated collector efficiency was 54%, providing a seasonal solar fraction of 58%, and the COP of the absorption chiller was 0.44, which was in limit, as reported in the literature for similar systems. A detailed parametric analysis was carried out to evaluate the thermal performance of the system and analyses, and the effect of design variables on the solar fraction of the system during the cooling season.


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