Air conditioner capable of controlling cooling and humidity, and control method therefor

A method for controlling an air conditioner including a first air flow path (111, 113, 115) provided to communicate with an indoor area, a second air flow path (310) provided to communicate with an outdoor area, and a dehumidifying rotor (200) including a first region (210) provided along the first air flow path (111, 113, 115), a second region (220) provided along the second air flow path (310), an adsorbing material which alternately passes through the first region (210) and the second region (220) according to rotation of the dehumidifying rotor (200) and adsorbs moisture in the first region (210) or the second region (220), an extraction flow path (112, 114) that is provided to be branched from the first air flow path (111, 113, 115) and connected to the second air flow path (310) such that extracted air which is some of the air introduced from the indoor area flows to the second air flow path (310), and a cooling unit (150, 160) that includes an evaporative cooler (150) configured to cool air from which moisture is removed while passing through the first region (210) and in which heat is exchanged between air flowing in the extraction flow path (112, 114) and air flowing in the first air flow path (111, 113, 115), the method comprising:

• dehumidifying air passing through the first air flow path (111, 113, 115) while the air flows through the first region (210) and regenerating the second region (220) using outdoor air flowing in the second air flow path (310);
• cooling the air passed through the first region (210) using the extracted air in evaporative cooler (150);
• and
• controlling the dehumidifying rotor (200) and the cooling unit (150, 160) such that a temperature or humidity of the indoor area is adjusted to a set value thereof.