LDDX: A High Efficiency Air Conditioner for DOD Buildings

Abstract

Conventional cooling systems are inefficient dehumidifiers, often supplying too much temperature reduction (i.e., sensible cooling) when supplying adequate dehumidification (i.e., latent cooling). Two approaches to more efficient indoor humidity control were field tested in this project. Both approaches integrated a liquid desiccant (LD) into a compressor-based DX air conditioner to more than double the dehumidification provided by the air conditioner. At AHRI A rating conditions, the LDDX prototypes that were tested at Picatinny Arsenal (3-ton) and Fort Belvoir (5-ton) supplied air at dewpoints of 46.5 F and 50 F, respectively. Both prototypes demonstrated the capability to adjust the Sensible Heat Ratio (SHR) of the supplied cooling by controlling their desiccant flows. The Fort Belvoir prototype was the more efficient of the two operating at an Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) of 11.46 and SHR of 0.403.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 01, 2017
Accession Number
AD1037953

Entities

People

  • Andrew Lowenstein
  • Jeffrey A. Miller
  • Thomas Hermans

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Chemistry
  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Compressors
  • Control Systems
  • Energy Conservation
  • Energy Efficiency
  • Energy Management
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Field Tests
  • Greenhouse Effect
  • Greenhouse Gases
  • Heat Transfer
  • Humidity
  • Laboratory Tests
  • Materials
  • Wet Bulb Temperature

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Combustion and Flow Dynamics.
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.