Experimental and normalized sensitivity based numerical analyses of a novel humidifier-assisted highly efficient indirect evaporative cooler

Ahmad, Muhammad, Xu, Bin, Dala, Laurent, Sultan, Muhammad, Lin, Jie and Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil (2021) Experimental and normalized sensitivity based numerical analyses of a novel humidifier-assisted highly efficient indirect evaporative cooler. International Communications in Heat and Mass Transfer, 125. p. 105327. ISSN 0735-1933

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Abstract

Indirect evaporative cooling technology has emerged as an energy-efficient, low-cost, and sustainable alternative to conventional air conditioning systems for space cooling. This is because of its significant (40-50%) energy-saving potential compared to ventilation, vapor compression cooling, and desiccant cooling systems. The current paper presents a novel humidifier-assisted regenerative indirect evaporative cooler that eliminates the use of hydrophilic surfaces within the system and mitigates the fouling propensity and water management issues. A generic cell of the proposed system is fabricated and tested for different operating scenarios along with theuncertainty propagation analysis. Thereafter, a normalized sensitivity analysis is performed to identify the most influential parameters on the cooler performance. The experimental data shows an effective cooling performance with a temperature drop of 20 °C of outdoor air and cooling capacity of 175 watts of 1800 mm x 300 mm generic cell. The cooling coefficient of performance was calculated as 44 and maximum effectiveness of 83.82 % for the proposed configuration. The sensitivity analysis reveals scaling trends of the coefficient of performance in the following orderof primary air inlet temperature > primary air outlet temperature > primary air velocity and the cooler effectiveness as secondary air outlet temperature > primary air inlet temperature > primary air humidity > primary air outlet.

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