Assessment of Energy, Environmental and Economic Performance of a Solar Desiccant Cooling System with Different Collector Types†
Department of Engineering, Università degli Studi del Sannio, Piazza Roma 21, 82100 Benevento, Italy
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†
This paper was previously presented at the 1st International e-Conference on Energies, 2014, c005; doi:10.3390/ece-1-c005, available online: http://www.sciforum.net/conference/ece-1/paper/2332.
Energies 2014, 7(10), 6741-6764; https://doi.org/10.3390/en7106741
Received: 31 July 2014 / Revised: 1 October 2014 / Accepted: 15 October 2014 / Published: 20 October 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 1st International e-Conference on Energies — Whither Energy Conversion? Present Trends, Current Problems and Realistic Future Solutions)
Desiccant-based air handling units can achieve reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and energy savings with respect to conventional air conditioning systems. Benefits are maximized when they interact with renewable energy technologies, such as solar collectors. In this work, experimental tests and data derived from scientific and technical literature are used to implement a model of a solar desiccant cooling system, considering three different collector technologies (air, flat-plate and evacuated collectors). Simulations were then performed to compare the energy, environmental and economic performance of the system with those of a desiccant-based unit where regeneration thermal energy is supplied by a natural gas boiler, and with those of a conventional air-handling unit. The only solution that allows achieving the economic feasibility of the solar desiccant cooling unit consists of 16 m2 of evacuated solar collectors. This is able to obtain, with respect to the reference system, a reduction of primary energy consumption and of the equivalent CO2 emissions of 50.2% and 49.8%, respectively, but with a payback time of 20 years.
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Keywords:
desiccant cooling; solar energy; energy; environmental and economic analysis; simulation model; collector types
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MDPI and ACS Style
Angrisani, G.; Roselli, C.; Sasso, M.; Tariello, F. Assessment of Energy, Environmental and Economic Performance of a Solar Desiccant Cooling System with Different Collector Types. Energies 2014, 7, 6741-6764.
AMA Style
Angrisani G, Roselli C, Sasso M, Tariello F. Assessment of Energy, Environmental and Economic Performance of a Solar Desiccant Cooling System with Different Collector Types. Energies. 2014; 7(10):6741-6764.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAngrisani, Giovanni; Roselli, Carlo; Sasso, Maurizio; Tariello, Francesco. 2014. "Assessment of Energy, Environmental and Economic Performance of a Solar Desiccant Cooling System with Different Collector Types" Energies 7, no. 10: 6741-6764.
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