Study on the Feasibility of Heat Pump Desiccant System Combined with Cogeneration System in Heating and Humidification Mode

Recently, in order to reduce energy consumption in the building sector, many air-conditioning systems have been proposed and applied to real buildings. Of particular note, air-conditioning systems that treat sensible and latent loads separately have been assessed as efficient in hot and humid climates. In this study, a highly efficient desiccant system combined with a cogeneration system and a heat pump desiccant system has been developed. The main concept of this system is to utilize the waste heat from the other systems, namely the cogeneration system and the solar heat system, to assist the desiccant material to recover, and to function in concert with the desiccant and heat pump systems. This paper describes a feasibility study into the proposed system, which was conducted based on an annual energy simulation, and assessed the system’s performance under various conditions. The case studies were conducted using an energy simulation tool, TRNSYS 16, with comparison to a general ventilation system, a heat recovery ventilator and a heat pump desiccant system, respectively. The sensible and latent loads, indoor air temperature and relative humidity in all cases were calculated using an energy simulation. It was found that the proposed system could save more energy than these other conventional systems through its more efficient use of waste heat.