Performance Analysis of Solar-Assisted Desiccant Cooling System Cycles in World Climate Zones

The demand for affordable, environment-friendly, and reliable water conditioning systems has led to the introduction of several standalone and/or hybrid alternatives. The technology of desiccant evaporative cooling (DEC) has proven to be dependable and has gained success at places where initially it was deemed unfeasible. Today, a number of related technologies and configurations are available. Among them, solar-assisted desiccant cooling system (SADCS) offers a cheap eco-friendly alternative, especially in hybrid configurations. Most studies have investigated the performance of numerous SADCS configurations in specific climatic conditions; however, at the global- and system-level scale, no such study is available. The current study investigates five different SADCS configurations using equation-based object-oriented modeling and simulation approach in five different climatic conditions. The selected climatic conditions cover a wide range of global weather data including arid/semiarid (Karachi), dry summer tropical (Adelaide), and mesothermal (Sao Paulo, Shanghai) to continental conditions (Vienna). The performance of all selected SADCS configurations (ventilation cycle, recirculation and ventilated-recirculation cycles, dunkle and ventilated-dunkle cycle) is analyzed for specified cooling design day of the selected cities. A uniform system control strategy based on the idea of displacement distribution (ventilation) system is used for each configuration and climatic zone. By monitoring their performances based on the values of cooling capacity (CC) and coefficient of performance (COP), the best SADCS configuration is proposed for each considered climatic condition in the world. The results revealed that the climates of Vienna, Sao Paulo, and Adelaide favor the use of ventilated-dunkle cycle configuration with average COP of 0.36, 0.84, and 0.93, respectively, while ventilation cycle based on DEC configuration suits the climate of Karachi and Shanghai with an average COP of 2.32 and 2.90, respectively.