ABSTRACT
The sorption material in most cases is a solid desiccant, while several liquid desiccants have been used in experimental setups. Desiccant cooling is an already well-established technology with many commercially available systems. Desiccant cooling can be used in several industrial fields, including the brewing industry, to prevent sanitation problems in cellars, and the pharmaceutical industry, to avoid product contamination. The basic principle of the desiccant cooling cycle consists of a sorption process that takes place to dehumidify the air combined with an evaporative cooling step. The combination of the dehumidifier with evaporative cooling, which is applied in most modern desiccant cooling systems, has been facilitated to feed the evaporative coolers with dry air and eliminate the aforementioned issues. Packed beds are the most commonly applied technology in liquid desiccant cooling. Hammed conducted experiments to study the performance of packed beds in solar-driven air conditioning systems.
