SOLAR HYBRID DESICCANT COOLING SYSTEMS IN SUPERMARKET APPLICATIONS

ABSTRACT The use of standard vapor compression cycles for air conditioning supermarkets is inefficient due to the cooling provided by the open refrigerated food cases. The high latent load ratios found in supermarkets provide an ideal application for hybrid desiccant cooling systems. Such systems can reduce air conditioning energy costs between 50% and 70%. Solar collectors with no storage capacity can reduce the auxiliary heat requirements of hybrid desiccant cycles by another 50%, and further reductions occur with the use of storage. The value of the savings do not offset the additional cost of the solar system. The required installed capacity of the vapor compression unit is decreased 80% with the use of hybrid systems. This results in reduced peak demands charges and lower initial costs. The reduction in initial cost offsets the additional cost of the desiccant equipment and may produce immediate paybacks.