| 摘要 |
A method and apparatus for cooling internal environment air using energy from the sun. In accordance with the method of the invention, internal environment ("inside") air is circulated over a desiccant and thereby dried. The dried air, which takes on heat as a consequence of the drying operation, is relatively cooled by performing a heat exchange operation with external environment ("outside") air. At this stage, the dried inside air is at a temperature which is only slightly above the temperature of the outside air. Moisture is then added to the dried inside air which had been subjected to the heat exchange operation. The evaporation of the moisture into the dried air restores it to a desired relative humidity and effects a cooling of the air which is then returned to the internal environment. The operation of drying the inside air will, after a time, render the desiccant too wet to perform efficiently. The desiccant is then heated with solar energy so as to remove moisture from the desiccant. In the preferred embodiment of the method of the invention, the desiccant is cooled, after the drying thereof using solar energy, by performing a heat exchange with outside air. In this embodiment, the two heat exchange operations, viz. cooling the dried room air and cooling the dried desiccant, are performed simultaneously.
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