An approach to analyzing and comparing the cooling performance of two indirect evaporative cooler designs

Abstract

Energy efficient air cooling systems are always in demand. Direct evaporative coolers are used to reduce air temperature in summer, they are energy saving and has low cost, but in hot and humid areas, they produce almost uncomfortable environment. Alternatively, modified indirect evaporative coolers with different technical configuration can produce better thermal output to cool or pre-cool air for residential applications. This paper presents a simple thermodynamic approach developed to analyze, for comparison, the behavior of conventional and regenerative indirect evaporative coolers that comprising different process structure. The analysis is based on the energy balance of each component of the coolers to consider which is more applicable for further modification. Similar performance cross-flow heat exchangers with separate air washers are adopted for both units. The two coolers are subjected to the same general summer operating conditions in terms of primary air temperature, specific humidity and flow rate. The results showed that the conventional indirect evaporative cooler provided better cooling performance in terms of all thermal comparison parameters. Thus, it deserves priority attention for the purpose of further development and additional improvement of performance.