Performance evaluation of a desiccant cooling system coupled with indirect evaporative cooling technologies under various climates

This work contributes to assess the impact of coupling two indirect evaporative cooling technologies with a standard desiccant evaporative cooling system. In the first modified version, an indirect evaporative cooler (IEC) is added to the system. The secondary air of the IEC is the air extracted from the building. In the second investigated system, the process air is sensibly cooled in a dew-point indirect evaporative cooler (D-IEC). Part
of the cooled process air is used as secondary air in the D-IEC. The performance of the three systems in terms of regenerative energy, electricity and water consumptions are compared over the cooling periods of seven climatic zones. It is shown that adding an IEC to the system reduces the overall consumption of the system, especially for warm, moderate and/or dry climate zones. In very hot and humid climate zones, the ambient
specific humidity is too high and the system should be enhanced to provide more suitable supply conditions.