The development of solar-assisted gas-fired appliances: phase ii. Final report dec 80-nov 81

Technical Report · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:6471939

Hagen, K G; Levine, A; Colarusso, J M; Zakak, A I

An evaluation of applying solar assistance to commercial laundry drying and supermarket dehumidification was accomplished. The laundry drying project included experimental evaluation of the transient and steady-state characteristics of the hot air produced by an air-heating solar collector; experimental evaluation of the performance characteristics of a gas-fired laundry dryer as affected by varying the inlet air temperature and humidity; and an assessment of the characteristics of commercial laundries in relation to the potential commercialization of the solar-assisted dryer concept. The supermarket dehumidification project included an assessment of the relative latent and sensible cooling requirements as a function of geographic location; typical design studies of the performance and cost effectiveness of desiccant dehumidification systems in this application; and the incremental effectiveness of solar assistance to desiccant regeneration. In both projects, the solar-assist feature is, at best, marginally cost effective, including incentives, in the near term; however, the gas-fired only desiccant dehumidification concept is shown to be a potentially attractive alternative to vapor compression dehumidification with a potential for widespread application.

• Research Organization: Thermo Electron Corp., Waltham, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6471939
• Report Number(s): PB-82-231663
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140909* -- Solar Thermal Utilization-- Miscellaneous Solar Applications-- (1980-)
AIR HEATERS
APPLIANCES
DEHUMIDIFICATION
DESICCANTS
DRYERS
DRYING
ECONOMICS
EQUIPMENT
EVALUATION
FOOD INDUSTRY
GAS APPLIANCES
HEATERS
INDUSTRY
LAUNDRIES
PERFORMANCE
REGENERATORS
SOLAR AIR HEATERS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR COOLING SYSTEMS
SOLAR DRYERS
SOLAR DRYING
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR REGENERATORS
STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS
TRANSIENTS