Desiccant HVAC system driven by a micro-CHP: Experimental analysis

In the Mediterranean area, there is increase in demand for summer cooling satisfied by electricallydriven units in domestic and small commercial sectors; this involves electric peak loads and black-outs.Consequently, there is an increasing interest in small scale polygeneration systems fuelled by natural gas.In this paper, attention is paid to a test facility, located in Southern Italy, to carry out experimentalanalysis on a small scale polygeneration system based on a natural gas-fired Micro-CHP and a desiccantHVAC system. The MCHP provides thermal power, recovered from engine cooling and exhaust gas, forthe regeneration of the desiccant wheel and electric power for the chiller, the auxiliaries and the externalunits (computers, lights, etc.). The HVAC system can also operate in traditional way, by interacting withelectric grid and gas-fired boiler. An overview of the main experimental results is shown, consideringboth the desiccant wheel and the global polygeneration system.The experimental results confirm that the performances of the desiccant wheel are strongly influencedby outdoor thermal-hygrometric air properties and regeneration temperature. The polygeneration systemguarantees primary energy savings up to 21.2% and greenhouse-gas emissions reductions up to 38.6%with respect to conventional HVAC systems based on separate energy “production”.