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 our 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.

This photo, and the next 8 show my progress on this project: There are two different systems shown in these 9 photos:

1) Five photos (001 thru 005) show views of an experimental system to test if this type of SRDAC will actually work. The photos show an inclined clear plastic covered solar collector that heats (and dries) wood shavings layered (3” thick) beneath the collector. Note the bathroom scales, with added magnifying glass to increase reading accuracy. A blower fan, not seen in the photos blows air thru the shavings, on sunny days, to dry the shavings. At night the blower circulates air from the house thru the shavings to dry the house. The bathroom scales is used to measure the gain or loss of weight, thus showing that the ~ 50 lb of shavings can take about 1 lb of humidity (water) from the house, per night for good sunny conditions, and cool nights.

2) The following four photos show a much larger system, but it works, essentially the same way: First photo shows the collector (4’ wide X 24” long) positioned on our roof. The collector and the roof are made of the same deep groove sheet steel roofing sections. White pipes conduct hot air from the roof, into the 4’ x 5’ x 6.5’ plywood box having ~250 lb of wood saw dust. A centrifugal blower, located in gray assembly under the box, has sufficient pressure to move air through the pipes. There are two valves, each two way, to switch air flow between night operation and day operation. At night, additional pipes conduct the desiccant dried air into the house by underground pipe.

To learn more, type some of the following words into Google to most easily get link:
Designing A Solar Regenerated Desiccant Air Conditioner for our Passively Heated Solar Home. by Henry Gurr http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/SaveEnergyGuide/AnncGurrDesignSolarRegenDesccAc

Type some of the following words into Google to most easily get link:
Henry & Suzanne Gurr’s Earth-Friendly Home Lets Mother Nature Do the Work.
http://ww2.usca.edu/ResearchProjects/ProfessorGurr/Documents/GurrSolarHome


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