, Ravikant NANWATKAR 2
, Sachin MUTALIKDESAI 3
, Tarang SHINDE 4
, Aparna BAGDE 5
, Pravin NITNAWARE 6
, Shruti DIKSHIT 1
, Sourabh KULKARNI 1
2STES’s NBN Sinhgad Technical Institutes Campus, Ambegaon, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune-41, India
3Marathwada Mitra Mandal’s Institute of Technology, Lohegaon, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune-47, India
4Yashoda Shikshan Prasarak Mandal Yashoda Technical Campus, Satara, 415011, India
5JSPM Narhe Technical Campus, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 41, India
6D Y Patil College of Engineering Akurdi, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, 411044, India
Abstract
The present study investigates the thermodynamic performance of an air-conditioning system integrated with a solid desiccant dehumidifier wheel (SDDW) using a combined heating mode of electrical and solar heaters. The obtained results were compared with standard results. During the experimentation, the solid desiccant wheel with silica gel as an adsorption material was used along with a conventional vapour compression cycle. The effect of inlet air temperature in the range of 23.6 ⁰C to 37.2 ⁰C and air inlet velocity in the range of 1.5 m/s to 4.1 m/s on the thermodynamic performance of an air-conditioning system integrated with a solid desiccant dehumidifier wheel was experimentally investigated. A combined electrical and solar heater mode was used to supply regeneration air for the solid desiccant dehumidifier at a constant velocity of 4.5 m/s. Experimentation was performed in all three seasons, namely summer, rainy and winter, to find the effect of seasonal variation on the performance of the air-conditioning system. The dehumidification effectiveness and adsorption rate in all three seasons increased with a decrease in the air inlet temperature. A maximum experimental value of dehumidification effectiveness was obtained in the summer season. At 23.6 ⁰C and 1.5 m/s air inlet velocity, the maximum value of dehumidification effectiveness was 0.19. While at the same temperature, the maximum value of the adsorption rate at 4.1 m/s air inlet velocity was 0.4 kg/hr. In all three seasons, regeneration effectiveness increased with an increase in the inlet air temperature. While the regeneration effectiveness was reduced due to an increase in air let velocity. A maximum value of dehumidification effectiveness obtained in the summer season at 37.2 ⁰C inlet air temperature and 1.5 m/s velocity was 0.298. The coefficient of Performance in all three seasons for the vapour compression cycle decreased with an increase in the inlet air temperature and velocity. A maximum experimentation value of the Coefficient of Performance obtained in the winter season for the vapour compression cycle at 23.6 ⁰C inlet air temperature and 1.5 m/s air inlet velocity was 0.51. The combined use of these heating methods resulted in a 33% increase in effectiveness compared to the use of the electric heater alone.
