Design and Preliminary Test of a Heat Pump-driven Liquid Desiccant System for a Residential Building

The purpose of this study is to suggest a heat pump-driven liquid desiccant (HPLD) air conditioning system for a residential building and preliminarily evaluate the cooling performance of the suggested system. The suggested HPLD system is composed of a liquid desiccant unit for the humidity control of process air with a liquid desiccant solution, and a heat pump unit for the temperature control of the desiccant solution and the process air. An experiment was conducted under operating parameters according to the design test conditions during summer operation mode based on a local standard of KS C 9306-Air Conditioners. From the test conditions, the performance indices of cooling and dehumidification capacity and system coefficient of performance (COP) were rated to evaluate the cooling performance. The experimental result showed that the suggested HPLD system acquired satisfactory supply air temperature (i.e., 15°C) and humidity ratio (i.e., 10 g/kg), and the mean cooling and dehumidification capacity of 5.14 kW met the evaluation standard of KS C 9306-Air Conditioners for a residential building. In addition, the mean system COP was 1.39 by using the compressor whose rated capacity was 3 hp.