A new type of air conditioning system, the liquid desiccant evaporation cooling air conditioning system (LDCS) is introduced in this
paper. Desiccant evaporation cooling technology is environmental friendly and can be used to condition the indoor environment of
buildings. Unlike conventional air conditioning systems, the system can be driven by low-grade heat sources such as solar energy and
industrial waste heat with temperatures between 60 and 80 1C. In this paper, a LDCS, as well as a packed tower for the regenerator and
dehumidifier is described. The effects of heating source temperature, air temperature and humidity, desiccant solution temperature and
desiccant solution concentration on the rates of dehumidification and regeneration are discussed. Based on the experimental results, mass
transfer coefficients of the regeneration process were experimentally obtained. The results showed that the mean mass transfer coefficient
of the packing regenerator was 4 g/(m2 s). In the experiments of dehumidification, it was found that there was maximal tower efficiency
with the suitable inlet humidity of the indoor air. The effective curves of heating temperature on the outlet parameters of the regenerator
were obtained. The relationships of regeneration mass transfer coefficient as a function of heating temperature and desiccant
concentration are introduced.