Desiccant cooling using unglazed transpired solar collectors

Conference · Fri May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1992

OSTI ID:5248558

Pesaran, A A ^[1]; Wipke, K ^[2]

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1. National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)
2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)

The use of unglazed solar collectors for desiccant regeneration in a solid desiccant cooling cycle was investigated because these collectors are lower in cost than conventional glazed flat-plate collectors. Using computer models, the performance of a desiccant cooling ventilation cycle integrated with either unglazed transpired collectors or conventional glazed flat-plate collectors was obtained. We found that the thermal performance of the unglazed system was lower than the thermal performance of the glazed system because the unglazed system could not take advantage of the heat of adsorption released during the dehumidification process. For a 3-ton cooling system, although the area required for the unglazed collector was 69% more than that required for the glazed collector, the cost of the unglazed collector array was 44% less than the cost of the glazed collector array. The simple payback period of the unglazed system was half of the payback period of the glazed collector when compared to an equivalent gas-fired system. Although the use of unglazed transpired collectors makes economic sense, some practical considerations may limit their use in desiccant regeneration. 8 refs.

• Research Organization: National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-83CH10093
• OSTI ID: 5248558
• Report Number(s): NREL/TP-432-4827; CONF-920678-6; ON: DE92010568
• Resource Relation: Conference: National solar energy conference, Cocoa Beach, FL (United States), 13-18 Jun 1992
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
BUILDINGS
COOLING SYSTEMS
DESICCANTS
COOLING
UNGLAZED SOLAR COLLECTORS
PERFORMANCE
COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE
EMISSIVITY
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
INSOLATION
USES
EFFICIENCY
EQUIPMENT
OPTICAL PROPERTIES
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SURFACE PROPERTIES
141000* - Solar Collectors & Concentrators
320106 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Building Equipment- (1987-)
320107 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Building Systems- (1987-)