A novel design of triple-hybrid absorption radiant building cooling system with desiccant dehumidification

Abstract

In air-conditioning, strategy of decoupling cooling and ventilation tasks has stimulated considerable interest in radiant cooling systems with dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS). In view of this, current paper presents a simulation study to describe energy saving potential of a solar, biogas, and electric heater powered hybrid vapor absorption chiller (VAC) based radiant cooling system with desiccant-coupled DOAS. A medium office building under warm and humid climatic condition is considered. To investigate the system under different operational strategies, ENERGYPLUS simulations are done. In this study, a novel design involving solar collectors and biogas fired boiler is proposed for VAC and desiccant regeneration. Three systems are compared in terms of total electric energy consumption: conventional vapor compression chiller (VCC) based radiant cooling system with conventional VCC-DOAS, hybrid VAC-based radiant cooling system with conventional VCC-DOAS, and hybrid VAC-based radiant cooling system with desiccantassisted VCC-DOAS. The hybrid VAC radiant cooling system and desiccant-assisted VCC-DOAS yields in 9.1% lesser energy consumption than that of the VAC radiant cooling system with conventional VCC-DOAS. Results also show that up to 13.2% energy savings can be ensured through triple-hybrid VAC radiant cooling system and desiccantassisted VCC-DOAS as compared to that of the conventional VCC-based radiant system. The return on investment is observed to be 14.59 yr for the proposed system.