Theoretical study on separate sensible and latent cooling air-conditioning system

The advantage of separating sensible and latent cooling (SSLC) via the use of separate cycles is saving energy by raising the evaporating temperature of the sensible cooling process. In this study, the pertinent characteristics of the SSLC system using two parallel vapor compression cycles were investigated. The requirement for high air flow rate through the sensible evaporator was the most important hardware design issue, since it might lead to a high air-side pressure drop. To address this issue, a new air distribution method, which could significantly reduce the pressure drop, was proposed to replace the conventional one. The heat exchanger modeling results demonstrated that sensible evaporators of the SSLC system could provide the equivalent cooling capacity at reduced air-side pressure drop to that of the conventional system without increasing the total heat transfer area. Although initial investment of the SSLC system is projected to be higher than the conventional system, the estimated operating cost of the SSLC system is lower than the conventional one because of the low energy consumption.