International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92

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International Journal of Refrigeration

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Experimental investigation of precooling desiccant-wheel

air-conditioning system in a high-temperature and high-humidity
environment
L. Chen∗, S.H. Chen, L. Liu, B. Zhang
Energy School, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Yanta Road, Xi’an 710054, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Desiccant-wheel air-conditioning systems driven by low-grade thermal energy have many advantages
Received 8 December 2017 compared with traditional air-conditioning systems, including energy savings, comfort and environmen-
Revised 7 August 2018
tal protection. Because of the insufficient dehumidification capacity of traditional air-conditioning sys-
Accepted 24 August 2018
tems, a precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system that operates under high-temperature and
Available online 12 September 2018
high-humidity conditions was developed. To study the performance of the precooling desiccant-wheel
Keywords: air-conditioning system, experimental devices were built. The effects of the air parameters, regenera-
Air-conditioning system tion temperature and water supply temperature on the performance of the precooling desiccant-wheel
Desiccant wheel air-conditioning system were experimentally studied. The performance indices included the moisture re-
Precooling moval capacity, dehumidification efficiency, refrigeration capacity, enthalpy efficiency and thermodynamic
High-temperature and high-humidity efficiency. The process air temperature, process air humidity ratio, regeneration temperature and water
environment
supply temperature had significant effects on the system’s performance. When a renewable low-grade
heat source was used, the energy consumption of the precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system
was reduced. This study provides guidance on the energy conservation design for precooling desiccant-
wheel air-conditioning systems intended for use in high-temperature and high-humidity environments.
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

Étude expérimentale d’un système de conditionnement d’air avec

pré-refroidissement à roue déshydratante dans un environnement où la
température et le taux d’humidité sont élevés

Mots-clés: Système de conditionnement d’air; Roue déshydratante; Pré-refroidissement; Environnement à haute température et à forte humidité

1. Introduction air-conditioning systems are used to reduce the evaporation tem-

The relative humidity of a building’s indoor environment must
be within a certain range to make it comfortable for human habi-
tation (ASHRAE, 2005). Sterling et al. (1985) believe a relative hu-
midity of approximately 50% effectively prevents the growth and
survival of biological pollutants. In a high-temperature and high-
humidity environment, the dehumidification load is a large propor-
tion of the total air-conditioning load. To increase the dehumidifi-
cation capacity, traditional vapour compression refrigeration cycle
∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: chenliu@xust.edu.cn (L. Chen).
perature, which in turn, increases the system’s energy consump-
tion ratio. Simultaneously, to ensure the accuracy of temperature
control in a room, the air must be reheated after cooling and dehu-
midification, leading to an unnecessary waste of energy. When the
dehumidification capacity of an air-conditioning system is not ade-
quate, the humidity in a room becomes too high (Cao et al., 2014).
Under conditions of high-temperature and high-humidity,
effective dehumidification methods are crucially important to
reduce the energy consumption of the air-conditioning system
and improve the comfort of an air-conditioned room. A desiccant
wheel is an effective air dehumidification method (ASHRAE, 2008)
that includes air treatment processes approximately equal to

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2018.08.015
0140-7007/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.
84 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92
Nomenclature
CP specific heat capacity, kJ/(kg K)
G process air mass flow rate, kg/s
Gr regeneration air mass flow rate, kg/s
h enthalpy, kJ/kg
K contribution of a component, %
MRC moisture removal capacity of a system or compo-
nent, g/s
Q refrigeration capacity of a system or component, kW
Qr regeneration heat, kW
Qre regeneration air enthalpy change, kW
Qw the supply water enthalpy change, kW
T temperature, °C
TCOP thermodynamic efficiency
W humidity ratio, g/kg
Greek symbols
η efficiency of the system, %
Subscript
D dehumidification
H enthalpy
in inlet
out outlet
r regeneration air
r1 inlet of the regeneration electric heater
r2 outlet of the regeneration electric heater
r3 outlet of the desiccant wheel
w supply water
enthalpy dehumidification. When a desiccant wheel is applied to
an air-conditioning system, it must be combined with a cooling
unit. A system with a combined desiccant wheel and cooling unit
is called a desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system. The main
cooling unit types are indirect evaporative cooling (Jain and Dhar,
1995; Goldsworthy and White, 2011) and direct evaporative cool-
ing (Jain and Dhar, 1995; La et al., 2013). In the desiccant-wheel
air-conditioning system, the hygroscopic material of the desic-
cant wheel absorbs moisture to alleviate the latent heat load. A
high-temperature water chiller, in which the chilled supply water
temperature is 12–20 °C, or a natural cold water source alleviates
the heat load. In this system, high-temperature and high-humidity
air is converted to low-temperature and low-humidity air to
create a comfortable air-conditioned room (ASHRAE, 2001); thus,
the problems of high energy consumption and high humidity in
traditional vapour compression refrigeration cycle air-conditioning
systems that operate in high-temperature and high-humidity
environments are basically solved.
The key component of the desiccant-wheel air-conditioning
systems is the desiccant wheel, which is driven by thermal energy.
The main reason for the high energy consumption of this system
is the energy required for regeneration. Therefore, recent studies
have focused on regeneration energy utilization in desiccant-wheel
air-conditioning systems. Theoretical analyses and experimental
research on a silica gel rotary wheel dehumidification system with
a heat pump system were performed. The results showed that
under high-temperature and high-humidity conditions, energy
consumption was lower than with a conventional heat pump
system (Kiatsiriroat and Tachajapong, 2002). Nie et al. (2017) pro-
posed a multifunction heat-pump-assisted desiccant wheel cooling
system that can be used for dehumidification, cooling and air
purification. The mathematical model of the one-dimensional heat
and moisture exchange for a desiccant wheel was established and
verified using experiments. Mavroudaki et al. (2002) discussed
the application of a one-stage rotary-wheel cooling system with
solar energy in southern Europe, and the results showed that the
cooling technology paired with solar energy was feasible in some
areas. The performance of a 20 kW solar-assisted adsorption de-
humidification air-conditioning system was tested (Kodama et al.,
2005). The structure of the desiccant-wheel air-conditioning sys-
tem with solar energy was optimized (Henning et al., 2001). When
vacuum-tube solar collectors provide all of the regeneration energy
for the desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system, the coefficient of
performance of the system is 0.45 (Bourdoukan et al., 2009). In
Hong Kong, the desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system with solar
energy was show to have a much higher energy-saving potential
than a traditional air-conditioning system (Fong et al., 2010).
It is generally believed that precooling improves the perfor-
mance of desiccant-wheel air-conditioning systems. Three devices
can be used to implement the precooling method: evaporative
coolers, heat recovering coolers and surface coolers.
Recirculation desiccant-wheel air-conditioning systems precool
air before the desiccant wheel via direct evaporative coolers and
incorporate an extra heat exchanger (Dunkle, 1965). Desiccant-
wheel air-conditioning systems contain two indirect evaporative
coolers; one is utilized to precool the air inlet into the desiccant
wheel and the other is utilized to precool the air inlet supplying
the room (Kabeel et al., 2017). A combined system of a chilled
ceiling, displacement ventilation and desiccant wheel has been de-
signed and applied for space conditioning. In this system, a desic-
cant wheel is precooled by a heat recovery wheel, which transfers
heat and moisture from supply air to exhaust air (Hao et al., 2007).
In this paper, three configurations are proposed utilizing two-stage
desiccant wheel air conditioning systems and three heat recovery
coolers. Precooling the air inlet into the desiccant wheel by air
heat recovery can improve a two stage desiccant air conditioning
systems’ coefficient of performance (Gadalla and Saghafifar, 2016).
Jeong et al. (2011) analysed the performances of four dehumidifi-
cation systems with a surface cooler for precooling air before the
desiccant wheel, double-stage-type systems (a system with two
desiccant wheels and a four-partition desiccant wheel type), and
a batch-type system with an internal heat exchanger.
The benefits of precooling by heat recovery are limited.
Desiccant-wheel air-conditioning systems are mostly fitted with
direct and indirect evaporative precoolers. However, evaporative
coolers can only cool air to their wet bulb temperature. Surface
precoolers can cool air to a temperature close to, or below, their
dew point temperature. Therefore, at high temperature and high
humidity, desiccant-wheel air-conditioning systems with surface
precoolers can be more effective.
The studies above show that the desiccant-wheel air-
conditioning system creates better room comfort and makes
better use of low-quality energy. Therefore, desiccant-wheel air-
conditioning systems are better than conventional air condition
systems under high energy consumption and high humid indoor
conditions in areas with high-temperature and high-humidity
environments. This paper presents and experimentally studies the
performance of precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning sys-
tem with surface precoolers intended for use in high-temperature
and high-humidity environments.
2. Precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system
The general desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system primar-
ily consists of a desiccant wheel and an indirect/direct evap-
orative cooler (Khalid et al., 2009; Jeong et al., 2010; Dong
et al., 2013; Zeng et al., 2014; Angrisani et al., 2015). However,
at high-temperature and high-humidity, application of an evap-
orative cooler is not effective because the wet bulb tempera-
ture of the process air is close to the dry bulb temperature
 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92 85

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system.

(Uçkan et al., 2017). Research shows that at high temperatures, the Table 1
Performance parameters of the air-preconditioning unit.
dehumidification efficiency of the desiccant wheel is low
(Ando et al., 2005). Simulations of the heat and mass trans- Equipment Capacity
fer of desiccant wheels show that the higher the inlet humid- Electric heater power 29.0 kW
ity of a desiccant wheel, the lower its thermodynamic efficiency Electrode humidifier steam flow 35 kg/h
(Bellemo et al., 2015).
Under high-temperature and high-humidity conditions, a cool-
ing device must be added in front of the desiccant wheel to im-
prove its efficiency and reduce regeneration temperatures. Addi- environments, a set of experimental devices was established.
tionally, the dew point temperature of air under high-temperature Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the experimental appa-
and high-humidity conditions is high, so the surface air precooling ratus and measuring points for the precooling desiccant-wheel
and dehumidifying provided by a high-temperature water chiller air-conditioning system. Fig. 2 presents a photograph of this ex-
or natural cool water source increase the performance of the sys- perimental device, which mainly consists of an air-preconditioning
tem. unit, front-surface air cooler, desiccant wheel, back-surface air
This paper presents a precooling desiccant-wheel air- cooler, fan and data acquisition and control system. The data
conditioning system that mainly consists of a front-surface air acquisition and control system controlled and adjusted the param-
cooler, desiccant wheel, back-surface air cooler and fan; this eters, and data were automatically collected and stored.
system is intended for use in high-temperature and high-humidity The high-temperature and high-humidity process air inlet con-
environments. The schematic of the precooling desiccant-wheel ditions were provided by an air-preconditioning unit, which was
air-conditioning system is shown in Fig. 1. equipped with an electrode humidifier, electric heater and fan.
High-temperature and high-humidity air is first cooled and de- The performance parameters of the air-preconditioning unit are
humidified by the front-surface air cooler. Then, the processed air shown in Table 1.
passes through the process side of the desiccant wheel, where air In our experiments, the desiccant wheel was a model USD-10D,
is dehumidified by adsorption of water vapour from the desiccant produced by Jiangsu Lianzhong Enterprise, China. The adsorbent of
wheel. The air temperature increases due to the heat dissipated the desiccant wheel was a silica gel. The dimensions and operat-
during the adsorption process. Next, air is cooled by the back- ing parameters of the desiccant wheel are shown in Table 2. The
surface air cooler to an appropriate temperature; then, cool and nominal capacity was measured under the following environmen-
dry air is supplied to the air-conditioned room by the fan. The air tal conditions: process air inlet temperature, 27 °C; process air inlet
temperature is high after air is processed by the desiccant wheel relative humidity, 60%; and regeneration temperature, 120 °C.
and can be decreased by a high-temperature water chiller or a nat- Table 3 shows the parameters of the front-surface air cooler
ural cool source. Thus, both the front-surface air cooler and back- and back-surface air cooler in the experiment. The nominal capac-
surface air cooler can either be a high-temperature water chiller or ity was measured under the following environmental conditions:
a natural cooling source. process air inlet temperature, 35 °C; process air inlet wet bulb
The regeneration air, which is heated by the air heater, passes
through the regeneration side of the desiccant wheel, where the
wet desiccant is regenerated by desorption of water, and the re-
Table 2
generation air is humidified. This humid air is exhausted to the at- Characteristics of the desiccant wheel.
mosphere by the regeneration fan. The desiccant wheel constantly
Parameters Capacity
rotates and alternately passes through the process side and regen-
eration side. The regeneration heat source can be heat pumps, so- Rotor diameter 550 mm
lar energy and waste heat. Rotor length 200 mm
Regeneration angle 90°
Desiccant material Silica gel
3. Experimental method Channel shape Honeycomb
Nominal capacity 9.45 kg/h
3.1. Experimental device Nominal air flow on process side 1500 m3 /h
Rotation speed 12 r/h
Weight of the desiccant wheel 220 kg
To study the performance of the precooling desiccant-wheel Power supply 380 V
air-conditioning system in high-temperature and high-humidity
86 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92

Fig. 2. Photograph of the experimental device for the precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system.

Table 3 4. Methodology
Parameters of the cooler.

Parameters Capacity 4.1. Performance evaluation indices

Front-surface air cooler
Water flow 0.7 L/s 4.1.1. Moisture removal capacity (MRC)
Cooling capacity 16.05 kW MRC is the rate of moisture removed by an individual compo-
Row number of copper pipes 5 nent or the system and is defined as
Copper pipe number of each row 11
Back-surface air cooler MRC = G(Win − Wout ) (1)
Water flow 0.7 L/s
Cooling capacity 13.76 kW
Row number of copper pipes 5 4.1.2. Dehumidification efficiency (ηD )
Copper pipe number of each row 12 ηD is the change rate of the air humidity ratio across an indi-
vidual component or the system and is defined as
ηD = (Win − Wout )/Win (2)
Table 4
Measured parameters.
4.1.3. Refrigeration capacity (Q)
Measured parameter Type Measurement range Accuracy
Q is the refrigeration capacity of an individual component or
Temperature PT 100 −40 °C–150 °C ±0.5 °C the system and is defined as
Relative humidity Capacitive 0%–100%RH ±2%
Air velocity Hot wire 0 m/s–15 m/s ±0.2 m/s Q = G(hin − hout ) (3)

4.1.4. Enthalpy efficiency (ηH )

temperature, 27 °C; supply water temperature, 7 °C; and return wa-
ter temperature, 12 °C.
The measurement parameters used for the experimental setup
and the type and accuracy of the sensor are shown in Table 4. The
sensor position is shown in Fig. 1.
3.2. Experimental design
ηH is an enthalpy efficiency of an individual component or the
system and is defined as
ηH = (hin − hout )/hin (4)
4.1.5. Thermodynamic coefficient (TCOP) (Ge et al., 2009)
TCOP is the ratio between the refrigerating output gained by the
process air and regenerating heat. The thermodynamic coefficient
TCOP of the system is defined as the ratio of the cooling load Q
to regeneration heat Qr . It should be noted that TCOP can only be
used in a desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system.

Using the above experimental device, the effect of the main T COP = Q/Qr (5)
operating parameters on the performance of the precooling The regeneration heat Qr is defined as
desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system in high-temperature and
high-humidity environments was studied. The main operating Qr = CP Gr (Tr2 − Tr1 ) (6)
parameters that affected the cooling and dehumidification per-
formance of the system were the process air inlet temperature, 4.1.6. Dehumidification contribution ratio (KD )
process air inlet humidity ratio, process air inlet air volume, KD is the ratio of the MRC of an individual component to that
regeneration temperature and supply water temperature for the of the whole system.
surface air cooler. One of the operating parameters varied, while
all of the other operating parameters were kept constant. In the 4.1.7. Enthalpy contribution ratio (KH )
experimental study, five groups of contrastive experiments based KH is the ratio of the cooling capacity of an individual compo-
on the changing operating parameters were performed. nent to that of the whole system.

Fig. 3. Comparisons between Qw and the sum of Q and Qre .
4.2. Heat balances
The sum of the cooling capacities (Qw ) of front cooler and back
cooler should be equal to the sum of the process air’s enthalpy
change across the system (Q) and the regeneration air enthalpy
change (Qre ). On the basis of energy balances, the accuracy of the
experimental results can be verified. In the following, Qw , Qre and
Q are defined as
Qw = C pw Gw (Twin − Twout )
Qre = Gr (hr2 − hr3 )
Q = G ( h1 − h4 )
where Twin and Twout are the inlet and outlet water temperatures
of the cold source, respectively, and hr 2 and hr 3 are the regenera-
tion air enthalpies at locations r2 and r3 , respectively, in Fig. 1. A
comparison of Qw with the sum of Q and Qre under different oper-
ating conditions is shown in Fig. 3. The results show that Qw is in
accord with the sum of Q and Qre . The maximum relative deviation
in Fig. 3 is 15%.
4.3. Uncertainty analysis
Uncertainty analysis is conducted using the root sum square
method. The method uses the following relationship:
 2  2  2  2
y ∂f x1 ∂f x2
= +
y ∂ x1 y ∂ x2 y ∂ xn
where f is a function of the independent variables xi , xi is the
absolute uncertainty associated with variable xi , y is the depen-
dent variable, and y and y/y are the absolute uncertainty and
relative uncertainty, respectively, of the dependent variable.
The positions of the sensors in the experiment are shown in
Fig. 1. The accuracy of the sensors in the experiment is shown in
Table 4. The values of the performance parameters described in the
previous section (MRC, ηD , Q, ηH and TCOP) are obtained by cal-
culations based on the measured variables (temperature, relative
humidity and velocity of the air). The average relative uncertainty
values obtained for the calculated parameters are as follows: 11.2%
L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92 87
Fig. 4. Effect of the air inlet temperature T1 on MRC and ηD .
(7)
(8)
(9) Fig. 5. Effect of the air inlet temperature T1 on Q and ηH .
for MRC, 6.1% for ηD , 8.7% for Q, 0.1% for ηH and 7.4% for TCOP. Ac-
cording to results of the uncertainty analysis, the measured results
obtained during the whole experiment were found to be within
the acceptable error range.
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Process air inlet temperature T1
The operating conditions were as follows: inlet humidity ratio
W1 , 31.6 g/kg; inlet air volume G, 0.44 m3 /s; regeneration electric
 2  21/2 heater outlet temperature (regeneration temperature) Tr 2 , 80 °C;
∂f xn regeneration electric heater outlet humidity ratio Wr 2 , 9.6 g/kg;
+ ··· +
y
and supply water temperature Twin , 16 °C. The performance of
(10) the new precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system was
tested by varying the process air inlet temperature T1 from 32.5 °C
to 38.8 °C.
Fig. 4 shows the trends of the MRC and ηD of the system against
T1 . When T1 changes from 32.5 °C to 38.8 °C, MRC decreases by
5.6% from 10.7 g/s to 10.1 g/s and ηD decreases by 6.2% from 59.3%
to 55.6%. MRC and ηD mainly decrease because the increase in the
inlet temperature T1 reduces the dehumidification capacity of the
desiccant wheel.
Fig. 5 shows the corresponding trends of Q and ηH . When T1
changes from 32.5 °C to 38.8 °C, Q increases by 5.1%, from 33.2 kW
to 34.9 kW, and ηH remains substantially constant. ηH remains sub-
stantially constant mainly because the enthalpy difference between
88 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92

Fig. 6. Effect of the air inlet humidity ratio W1 on MRC and ηD . Fig. 7. Effect of the air inlet humidity ratio W1 on Q and ηH .

inlet air and outlet air of the system similarly increase with the
increase in inlet enthalpy. Consequently, Q increases with the in-
crease in the enthalpy difference between the inlet air and outlet
air of system.
At high temperatures (32.5–38.8 °C), the temperature difference
between the inlet and outlet of the process air can reach 9.5–
15.1 K, and the humidity ratio difference between the inlet and
outlet is 17.6–18.7 g/kg.

5.2. Process air inlet humidity ratio W1

The operating conditions were as follows: inlet temperature

T1 , 32 °C; inlet air volume G, 0.44 m3 /s; regeneration tempera-
ture Tr 2 , 80 °C; regeneration electric heater outlet humidity ratio
Wr 2 , 9.2 g/kg; and supply water temperature Tw , 16 °C. The per-
formance of this new precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning
system was tested by varying the process air inlet humidity ratio
W1 from 15.7 g/kg to 26.8 g/kg (the corresponding relative humid- Fig. 8. Effect of process air inlet air volume G on MRC and ηD .
ity is 55–92%).
Fig. 6 shows the trends of the MRC and ηD of the system against
W1 . When W1 changes from 15.7 g/kg to 26.8 g/kg, MRC rapidly in-
creases by 113.1%, from 3.8 g/s to 8.1 g/s, and ηD increases by 25.6%,
from 42.2% to 53.0%. A major reason for the increases in MRC and
ηD is that the humidity ratio difference is a driving force for mass
transfer; a higher W1 leads to a higher mass transfer rate. Since a
much larger latent heat load can be processed at a higher W1 , the
system can achieve a higher MRC and ηD .
Fig. 7 shows the corresponding trends of Q and ηH . When W1
changes from 15.7 g/kg to 26.8 g/kg, Q increases by 67.9%, from
15.6 kW to 26.2 kW, and ηH increases by 20.5%, from 38.0% to
45.8%. The main reasons for the increase in Q and ηH is that the
dehumidification capacity of the desiccant wheel increases with
the increase in the inlet humidity ratio W1 , which increases the
latent heat load.
In summary, at a high humidity ratio (15.7 g/kg–26.8 g/kg), the
temperature difference between the inlet and outlet of process air
can reach 9.2–10.0 °C and the humidity ratio difference between
the inlet and outlet is 6.6–14.2 g/kg. Fig. 9. Effect of process air inlet air volume G on Q and ηH .

5.3. Process air inlet volume G

The operating conditions were as follows: inlet temperature T1 ,
32 °C; inlet humidity ratio W1 , 28.1 g/kg; regeneration tempera-
ture Tr 2 , 80 °C; regeneration electric heater outlet humidity ratio
Wr 2 , 8.4 g/kg; and supply water temperature Tw , 16 °C. The per-
formance of this new precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning
system was tested by varying the process air inlet air volume G
from 0.38 m3 /s to 0.55 m3 /s.
Fig. 8 shows the variation trends of MRC and ηD of the system
against G. When G changes from 0.38 m3 /s to 0.55 m3 /s, MRC in-
creases by 27.8%, from 7.9 g/s to 10.1 g/s, and ηD decreases by 11.3%,
from 55.2% to 49.6%. Fig. 9 shows the corresponding trends of Q
 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92
Fig. 10. Effect of the regeneration temperature Tr 2 on MRC and ηD .
Fig. 11. Effect of the regeneration temperature Tr 2 on Q and ηH .
and ηH . When G changes from 0.38 m3 /s to 0.55 m3 /s, Q increases
by 28.2%, from 25.2 kW to 32.3 kW, and ηH decreases by 10.9%,
from 47.8% to 42.6%. MRC and Q mainly increase because of the
increase in the air volume G. ηD and ηH mainly decrease because
the faster the air speed, the less time that air will be retained in
contact with the cooler and desiccant wheel.
5.4. Regeneration temperature Tr 2
The operating condition follow: inlet temperature T1 , 32 °C; in-
let humidity ratio W1 , 28.1 g/kg; inlet air volume G, 0.44 m3 /s;
supply water temperature Tw , 16 °C; and the regeneration elec-
tric heater outlet humidity ratio Wr 2 , 8.4 g/kg. The performance of
this new precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning system was
tested by varying the regeneration temperature Tr 2 from 66 °C to
106 °C.
Fig. 10 shows the variation trends of the MRC and ηD of the
system against Tr 2 . When Tr 2 changes from 66 °C to 106 °C, MRC
increases slightly by 1.1%, from 9.0 g/s to 9.1 g/s, and ηD increases
slightly by 1.8%, from 55.8% to 56.8%. Fig. 11 shows the correspond-
ing trends of Q and ηH . When Tr 2 changes from 66 °C to 106 °C, Q
decreases slightly by 1.4%, from 29.1 kW to 28.7 kW, and ηH de-
creases by 1.6%, from 48.9% to 48.1%.
MRC and ηD change slightly because with the increase in the
regeneration temperature Tr 2 , the moisture removal capacity of the
desiccant wheel is enhanced, but the moisture removal capacity of
89
Fig. 12. Effect of the regeneration temperature Tr 2 on TCOP.
the back cooler is reduced because of the high temperature process
of the outlet air of the desiccant wheel. Q and ηH change slightly,
mainly because with the increase in the regeneration temperature
Tr 2 , the heat of adsorption increases, but the refrigeration capacity
of the back cooler is enhanced because of the high temperature
process outlet air of the desiccant wheel.
Fig. 12 shows the variation trend of TCOP against Tr 2 . With the
increase in the regeneration temperature Tr 2 , TCOP decreases by
52%, from 2.5 to 1.2.
TCOP mainly decreases because with the increase in the re-
generation temperature Tr 2 , the regeneration heat Qr substantially
increases and the refrigeration capacity Q slightly decreases;
eventually, the thermodynamic coefficient TCOP decreases with
the increase in the regeneration temperature Tr 2 . When the
regeneration temperature Tr 2 is 66–106 °C, the temperature dif-
ference between the inlet and outlet process air is 9.0–10.5 °C,
and the humidity ratio difference between the inlet and outlet is
15.7–16.0 g/kg. The effects of the regeneration temperature on the
system’s cooling power and MRC are weak.
5.5. Supply water temperature Tw
The operating conditions were as follows: inlet temperature
T1 , 32 °C; inlet humidity ratio W1 , 28.1 g/kg; inlet air volume G,
0.44 m3 /s, regeneration temperature Tr 2 , 80 °C; and regeneration
electric heater outlet humidity ratio Wr 2 , 8.4 g/kg. The system out-
let temperature T4 , system outlet humidity ratio W4 , performance
of this system, performance of each component and contribution
rate of each component to the system were tested by varying the
supply water temperature Twin from 15.2 °C to 20.2 °C; the experi-
mental results are presented in Table 5.
Table 5 shows the performance of each component and sys-
tem when Tw changes from 15.2 °C to 20.2 °C. The MRC of sys-
tem decreases by 26.7%, from 9.0 g/s to 6.6 g/s, and ηD of system
decreases by 26.8%, from 55.9% to 40.9%. The Q of system de-
creases by 31.5%, from 28.9 kW to 19.8 kW, and ηH of system de-
creases by 31.8%, from 48.5% to 33.1%. MRC, ηD, Q and ηH decrease
mainly because the higher supply water temperature corresponds
to a smaller driving force the surface air cooler for heat and mass
transfer. Table 5 shows that the temperature difference between
the inlet and outlet process air is 4.9–10.0 °C and the humidity ra-
tio difference between the inlet and outlet is 11.5–15.6 g/kg.
Figs. 13 and 14 show the corresponding trends of KD and KH
when Twin changes from 15.2 °C to 20.2 °C. The overall tendency
of KD of the front cooler is diminishing with an increased Twin .
90 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92

Table 5
Performance each component and system by varying the supply water.

Twin (°C) T4 (°C) W4 (g/kg) Indices Front cooler Desiccant wheel Back cooler System

15.2 22.0 12.4 MRC (g/s) 6.5 2.2 0.3 9.0

ηD (%) 40.5 80.1 3.9 55.9
Q (KW) 22.5 −2.6 9.0 28.9
ηH (%) 37.7 −6.9 22.6 48.5
15.7 22.5 12.8 MRC (g/s) 6.2 2.2 0.4 8.8
ηD (%) 38.2 79.9 5.2 54.5
Q (KW) 21.2 −2.7 9.6 28.1
ηH (%) 35.6 −7.0 23.2 47.0
16.8 22.9 13.4 MRC (g/s) 5.9 2.1 0.4 8.4
ηD (%) 36.6 79.6 4.8 52.2
Q (KW) 20.1 −3.7 10.5 26.9
ηH (%) 33.7 −9.3 24.2 45.1
17.6 23.2 13.9 MRC (g/s) 5.6 2.2 0.3 8.1
ηD (%) 34.7 79.5 4.2 50.5
Q (KW) 19.2 −3.5 10.3 26.0
ηH (%) 32.2 −8.6 23.4 43.6
18.3 23.5 14.4 MRC (g/s) 5.4 2.2 0.2 7.8
ηD (%) 33.9 79.3 2.7 48.8
Q (KW) 18.8 −3.6 9.9 25.1
ηH (%) 31.5 −8.8 22.3 42.1
19.4 24.7 16.0 MRC (g/s) 4.1 2.2 0.6 6.9
ηD (%) 25.2 78.4 6.8 42.9
Q (KW) 14.0 −2.5 10.5 22.0
ηH (%) 23.5 −5.4 21.7 36.9
20.2 27.1 16.6 MRC (g/s) 3.9 2.2 0.5 6.6
ηD (%) 24.3 78.3 5.2 40.9
Q (KW) 13.5 −2.5 8.8 19.8
ηH (%) 22.7 −5.4 17.9 33.1

The overall tendency of the KD of desiccant wheel and KH of back

cooler increase with an increased Twin . However, the KH of desic-
cant wheel does not vary much with an increased Twin . The KD of
front cooler ranged from 58.8% to 72.5%, KD of the desiccant wheel
ranged from 24.4% to 32.7%, and KD of the back cooler ranged from
2.9% to 9.7%. The KH of front cooler ranged from 63.8% to 77.8%, KH
of the desiccant wheel ranged from −14.3% to −8.9%, and KH of the
back cooler ranged from 31.3% to 47.3%.
In summary, the supply water temperature has a strong influ-
ence on the thermal performance and contribution ratio of each
component of the system.

5.6. Comparison between the system with a front cooler and system
without a front cooler

The aim of this study is to experimentally compare the perfor-

mance of a system with a front cooler and a system without a
front cooler. The precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning sys-
tem is named “the system with a front cooler”, as shown in Figs 15
Fig. 13. Effect of the supply water temperature TWin on KD .
and 16. The system without a front cooler is named “without a
front cooler”.
The operating conditions of the system with a front cooler and
the system without a front cooler are the same and are as fol-
lows: inlet air volume G, 0.44 m3 /s; regeneration electric heater
outlet temperature (regeneration temperature) tr 2 , 80 °C; regener-
ation electric heater outlet humidity ratio Wr 2 , 9.6 g/kg; and sup-
ply water temperature twin ,17 °C. The sum of the supply water vol-
ume of the front cooler and back cooler of the system with a front
cooler is equal to the water volume of the back cooler in the sys-
tem without a front cooler.
The performances of the system with a front cooler and system
without a front cooler are tested by varying the process air inlet
states from A to E. The process air inlet states are shown in Table 6.
Temperature, relative humidity and humidity ratio increase with
the process air inlet states from A to E.
Fig. 14. Effect of the supply water temperature TWin on KH . Figs. 15 and 16 show the corresponding trends of ηD and ηH
against the process air inlet states. With the process air inlet states
 L. Chen et al. / International Journal of Refrigeration 95 (2018) 83–92 91

6. Conclusion

In this study, a precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning sys-

tem in high-temperature and high-humidity environments was
proposed. This system consists of a two-stage surface air cooler
and desiccant wheel. The effects of the process air parameters, re-
generation temperature and water supply temperature on the per-
formance of the precooling desiccant-wheel air-conditioning sys-
tem in high-temperature and high-humidity environments were
experimentally studied. The performance indices for the system
performance were the moisture removal capacity, dehumidification
efficiency, refrigeration capacity, enthalpy efficiency and thermo-
dynamic efficiency. According to the analysis, several conclusions
were drawn.
a. The temperature difference between the system inlet and
system outlet of process air can reach 9.7–15.1 K when the
air inlet temperatures is from 32.5–38.8 °C. The humidity ra-
tio difference between the system inlet and system outlet of
process air can reach 6.6–14.2 g/kg when inlet relative hu-
Fig. 15. Effect of the process air inlet states on ηD .
midity is in the range of 55% to 92%.
b. When the process air inlet humidity ratio increases, the
moisture removal capacity, dehumidification efficiency, re-
frigeration capacity and enthalpy efficiency increase.
c. The effects of the regeneration temperature are weak on the
system’s cooling power and MRC. However, the regeneration
temperature should be reduced, if possible, because high re-
generation temperatures reduces TCOP.
d. The supply water temperature determines the contribution
rate of the components of the system. When Twin changes
from 15.2 °C to 20.2 °C, the KD of the front cooler ranges
from 58.8% to 72.5%, KD of the desiccant wheel ranges from
24.4% to 32.7%, and KD of the back cooler ranges from 2.9%
to 9.7%. The KH of front cooler ranges from 63.8% to 77.8%,
KH of the desiccant wheel ranges from −14.3% to −8.9%, and
KH of he back cooler ranges from 31.3% to 47.3%.
e. Comparison between systems with front coolers and systems
without front coolers was made at high temperature and
high humidity using the supply water temperature 17 °C. The
ηD and ηH of a system with a front cooler are greater than
ηD and ηH of the system without front cooler. The ηD and
Fig. 16. Effect of the process air inlet states on ηH .
ηH increase in both systems with front coolers and systems
without front coolers when the process air inlet tempera-
Table 6 ture, relative humidity and humidity ratio increase.
Process air inlet states.

Process air inlet states A B C D E Acknowledgments

Temperature (°C) 31.2 33.2 34.9 36.7 38.7
Relative humidity (%) 47.9 59.6 69.7 74.0 77.0 This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foun-
humidity ratio (g/kg) 13.7 19.2 24.9 29.4 34.3 dations of China (No. 51404191, 51504182, 51174159, 51874229) and
Shaanxi Innovative Talents Cultivate Program-New-star Plan of Sci-
ence and Technology (No. 2018KJXX-083).

varying from A to E, ηD and ηH increase in both the system with a References

front cooler and system without a front cooler. The ηD and ηH of
the system with a front cooler are greater than the ηD and ηH of
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A front cooler results in higher ηD and ηH since at high temper-
ature and high humidity and when using the supply water tem-
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