Preliminary Findings on the Performance of a New Residential Solar Desiccant Air Conditioner
Abstract
CSIRO and Rinnai have developed a new prototype 3-in-1 solar product designed to produce hot water, supply winter space heating; and provide summer space cooling. The cooling component of the system uses desiccant cooling technology. TRNSYS modelling predicts that thermal energy savings of more than 50% can be achieved in a typical Australian household. A prototype of the product has been constructed, and initial testing of the desiccant cooling component found that the desiccant cooling system reduces building supply air temperature by around 6°C under design summer conditions.