Study on evaporative cooling assisted desiccant air conditioning system for livestock application in Pakistan

Heat stress is one of the major issues for the livestock's thermal comfort. The present study considers desiccant based air-conditioning (DAC) options for livestock's thermal comfort. Different heat producing phenomena are described for livestock applications. For this purpose, DAC systems have been investigated for the 4 major cities of Pakistan. Air Conditioning requirements for livestock applications are estimated and temperature humidity index (THI) is also calculated for the livestock applications. Thermodynamic analysis of the DAC systems is carried out by using steady state models of desiccant dehumidification and evaporative cooling phenomena available in literature. Study areas have different situations of humidity and temperature. Present study proposes two systems including: (i) standalone DAC system, and (ii) M-cycle assisted DAC system. The performance of DAC systems has been checked and analysed. Coefficient of performance (COP) of standalone DAC was found 1.46 and COP was 2.303 for M-cycle based DAC system at 70°C. Results show that M-cycle assisted DAC system can provide thermal comfort for livestock from March to October flor the study areas. Standalone DAC system appeared to be inappropriate for livestock application. Results suggest that ambient conditions for the months of January, February, March, November and December are appropriate for livestock's thermal comfort.