The Cromer cycle uses a desiccant to movemoisture from the saturated air leaving an airconditioning (AC) cooling coil to the air returning tothe AC unit from the conditioned space. This has thethermodynamic effect of reducing the overall energyconsumption of the AC unit and also has the sidebenefit of dramatically increasing the moistureremoval capacity of the AC coil. Simulations,engineering analysis and laboratory tests haveconfirmed the technical feasibility of thethermodynamics of the cycle. This work reports on atest at ARI conditions (95 deg. F outside, 80 deg F,51% RH inside). The test unit (10 year old, 5 tonBryant Air Conditioner) without the Cromer cycle,averaged an EER of 7.93 at a latent ratio of 26.2 %(SHR = 0.738). With the Cromer cycle added, thesame unit averaged a total cooling EER of 11.82with a water removal latent ratio of 53.4% (SHR=0.466). The measured 16.4% reduction in energy useand 47.9 improvement in EER is significant for thetests at the 95% confidence level. This technologyrepresents a major improvement in energyperformance for the control of humidity conditions.
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