Energy-efficient air conditioning uses desiccant to remove moisture
Ener-G has teamed up with Advantix Systems of the USA to introduce DuCool liquid-desiccant air-conditionings technology to the UK. The system is said to use 30 to 50% less energy than conventional air conditioning and provide accurate control of temperature and relative humidity. The key to these energy savings is the use of liquid desiccant to remove moisture from the air rather than mechanical cooling.
The DuCool system handles the latent load and a proportion of the sensible load. Precooled fresh air is then contra-flowed against the liquid desiccant (LiCl) to remove moisture and then further heated or cooled as required. This approach avoids cooling air to dewpoint to remove moisture and then reheating it.
Low-grade heat can be used to restore the desiccant.
Systems are available to provide sensible cooling from 2.8 to 25 kW and latent cooling from 6.3 to 49 kW with supply-air flows from 510 to 5780 m3/h.
