Modeling and performance of a two-stage collector/regenerator for solar liquid desiccant air conditioning system

A two-stage collector/regenerator (C/R) for the solar liquid desiccant air conditioning system is presented, which adopts a fin-forming absorber plate and where the liquid desiccant flowing process is divided by an isolation board into two stages: regenerating stage I and regenerating stage II. Then a heat and mass transfer mathematical model is established to predict the performance of the two-stage C/R by using calcium chloride as the desiccant. The main results are as follows: (i) The fin-forming absorber plate can increase heat and mass transfer areas and promote turbulence, so that it significantly enhances heat and mass transfer between solution stream and air stream; (ii) Compared with the traditional C/R, a 10 to 25 percent increase in the water evaporation rate for the two-stage C/R can be achieved under the same operating condition.