Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioners: An Announcement of my new project and a call for persons to contact me to share ideas and information concerning Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioners (SRDAC).
I am especially interested in discussing Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioning with persons who have experience (or information) about this field, or related ideas. Therefore, any person who wishes to share ideas and information concerning:
1) Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioning generally, or
2) Specifically air conditioning (or dehumidification) of solar homes, or
3) Solar Regenerated Desiccant Processes
are invited to email contact me at HenryG@USCA.edu.
(My full contact information (& al lot more info about me) is available by a mouse click on the “Contact Me” at the bottom of this page).
I am currently designing a Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioner = SRDAC, for our “Henry & Suzanne Gurr, Passively Heated (and Cooled) Solar Home." I’m doing this, not only to cut down on the ever growing cost of AC Electrical Power for Dehumidification, but also to minimize our contribution to Global Warming through our contribution to Carbon Dioxide emission because of the Electrical Power we use. (Side note: We have used AC Electrical Power for Dehumidification, for all these years since we moved into this home in ~1980.)
My SRDAC design will, of necessity, be adapted to our house, which has about 150 ton of passive heat storage, mainly reinforced concrete, which is augmented with a large amount of “earth contact”. The latter was done not only to increase the effective tons of passive heat storage, but also to use “earth contact,” gain free heat in winter, and free cooling in summer! Because of this, the SRDAC design will need to create a comparatively minimal amount of cooling, and mainly supply moisture removal, which in our house is rather low because of its “earth contact” design and comparatively low infiltration of outside humid air.
Footnote: Clearly, because of Global Warming, and to stop waste of electrical power and $money$, I should have (alas ) done this back in the 1980’s!! But back then I did not have any reserve emotional energy, or the available time. Nor did I know how, or even have the gumption to start the needed research effort!! Nor did I have even any idea how this might be done, let alone the needed “good idea.” So, it was that this project had to wait for:
1) My retirement, and
2) for my “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” Research Project, ZMMQ. to be completed, and finally
3) Discovering the needed ‘Good Idea’, which was ultimately suggested, indeed urged, by my son David Gurr; namely the SRDAC Idea.
Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioning (SRDAC) Links
Some relevant information I have found via Google:
Currently, my design ideas follow those of the following two links. Although my literature search is (so far) rather incomplete, these .pdf documents seem most suitable, as a guide, for designing my system.
1) http://www.thaiscience.info/Article%20for%20ThaiScience/Article/3/Ts-3%20the%20regeneration%20of%20silica%20gel%20desiccant%20by%20air%20from%20a%20solar%20heater%20with%20a%20compound%20parabolic%20concentrator.pdf
2) http://www.ijest.info/docs/IJEST11-03-05-256.pdf
The Desiccant Wheel + Conventional Refrigeration is rather expensive, and, I believe, is not a good fit to our situation. See for example Munters Company, next links:
http://www.munters.us/en/us/Products--Services/Dehumidification/Dehumidification/Residential-Dehumidification/?Product=B4763DB6-F455-4097-8E16-F96D6493CCD9
http://webdh.munters.com/webdh/BrochureUploads/Brochure-%20Wheel%20and%20Desiccant%20options.pdf
http://webdh.munters.com/webdh/BrochureUploads/Product%20Guide-%20HCE%20Series.pdf
