Field performance measurements of a heat pump desiccant unit in dehumidification mode

The variable refrigerant volume (VRV) air conditioning system needs to be operated in conjunction with a ventilation system, because the VRV system cannot provide any fresh air. The common ventilation unit used with the VRV system is the heat recovery ventilation (HRV) unit. In this study, a new ventilation unit, a self-regenerating heat pump desiccant (HPD) unit, was introduced and the characteristics of the HPD unit was experimentally investigated over a wide range of operating conditions in a field performance test. In addition, the energy saving contribution of the HPD and HRV units to the VRV system was compared. It was found that the HPD unit maintained the target indoor humidity ratio of 10 g/kg throughout the cooling season resulting in a better indoor thermal comfort than the HRV unit. Besides, it was found that the outdoor unit of the VRV system consumed 26.3% less energy for the operation in conjunction with the HPD unit as compared to the operation in conjunction with the HRV unit.