In this study, performance of a hybrid air-conditioning system, which consists of vapor compression, desiccant dehumidification and adsorption refrigeration, is predicted. The results show that the performance of this system is 44.5% higher than conventional vapor compression refrigeration system at a latent load of 30% and the improvement can be achieved by 73.8% at a 42% latent load. The optimal ratio of adsorption refrigerating power to total cooling load of this kind of hybrid systems is also studied.
Along with the development of adsorption refrigeration technology and its industrialization and commercialization, adsorption refrigeration is turning into a kind of energy-saving, environment-friendly refrigeration technologies. In this system, if liquid desiccant regeneration is also driven by solar energy, the heat pump can be eliminated; the performance of ECOP is then improved much more. However, if the system is powered completely by solar energy, the original costs will be very large. In addition, the operation strongly depends on weather conditions.
The system scheme discussed in this study has been applied in the green building demonstration project in Shanghai.