Performance assessment of solar and desiccant aided building air-conditioning system

Indoor thermal comfort significantly influences people’s health, happiness and consequently the output at the workplace. Here, a systematic simulation study on a conventional vapor compression-based building cooling system integrated with desiccant assisted dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) is performed using EnergyPlus software for warm and humid climate zones. Impact of using desiccant material in the DOAS, on the cooling load requirement of the building, coefficient of performance (COP), and energy consumption of the system is discussed. The building design is well-validated with the available guidelines. Desiccant assisted system supplies dehumidified air inside the building space which affects the evaporator performance. A flat plate solar collector system is used to supply the hot air to regenerate the desiccant material. Electric energy savings in desiccant assisted system can be achieved up to 5.5 %, whereas, the COP of the system is not found to be significantly affected even though thermal load demand reduces by nearly 13.5 % by the proposed modification.