Split-air flow cooling and dehumidification system

Abstract

A split-air arrangement for cooling and dehumidifying air in an indoor conditioned space includes separate first and second courses created from an entering air stream. The first course passes through a desiccant device to remove humidity from the air, the air leaving the desiccant device passing through a first cooling coil to cool the air and the air leaving the first cooling coil entering a supply air plenum. The second course is directed through a first side of a heat exchanger, the air leaving the heat exchanger being heated by a heater element prior to picking up moisture from the desiccant device. Air leaving the desiccant device passes through a second side of the heat exchanger, and subsequently passes through a second cooling coil to cool and dehumidify the air in the second course. Exiting air is mixed with the first course air and returned to the conditioned space in which the process air flow is maximized relative to the regenerative air flow while still permitting effective latent cooling.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application is based upon U.S. Patent Application No. 61 / 588,965, filed Jan. 20, 2012, pursuant to relevant paragraphs of 35 USC §119.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]This application relates generally to the field of heating and cooling and more specifically to a system in which a source of relatively warm water, such as geothermally cooled water, shallow lake water or near-shore ocean water, is used to remove sensible heat from indoor air for cooling thereof, the system further including a desiccant device for removing humidity wherein an incoming air stream from a space to be cooled is split into first and second air streams for removing both heat and humidity. In the present application, various improvements are herein discussed as to the optimization of a split-air stream cooling / dehumidification arrangement for increasing system efficiency, as well as for providing enhanced versatility.BACKGROUND AND RELATED ART[0003]As described in U.S. Pa...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a cooling system that adjusts the amount of process air to match the amount of regenerative air, which helps increase efficiency. Additionally, the system is designed to be versatile and can be used for different environments.

Problems solved by technology

Though Applicant's described system provides sensible cooling and dehumidification to a conditioned space, there are certain constraints that prevent maximizing the efficiency of the system, the latter being typically expressed as the coefficient of performance (COP), reflecting the ratio of heat removed from the cold reservoir divided by the input heat.

Among these constraints is the ratio of the amount of sensible cooling per amount of dehumidification (latent cooling).

If this ratio is too high, then inadequate dehumidification may have resulted.

Utilization of a relatively warm cooling source having a temperature between about 50 and 60 degrees Fahrenheit inherently makes it difficult to achieve this ratio.

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