Energy saving potential of a counter-flow regenerative evaporative cooler for various climates of China: Experiment-based evaluation

Duan, Zhiyin; Zhao, Xudong; Zhan, Changhong; Dong, Xuelin; Chen, Hongbing

Abstract

© 2017 Recently there has been growing interest in regenerative evaporative coolers (REC), which can reduce the temperature of the supply air to below the wet-bulb of intake air and approach its dew-point. In this paper, we designed, fabricated and experimentally tested a counter-flow REC in laboratory. The REC's core heat and mass exchanger was fabricated using stacked sheets composed of high wicking evaporation (wickability of available materials was measured) and waterproof aluminium materials. The developed REC system has a much higher cooling performance compared to conventional indirect evaporative cooler. However, the decision to use the REC for China buildings depends on a dedicated evaluation of the net energy saved against the capital expended. Such an evaluation requires the hourly-based data on the availability of cooling capacity provided by the REC for various climates. The paper used an experiment-based method to estimate the cooling capacity and energy savings provided by the proposed REC for China's various climates. By using the experimental results and regional hourly-based weather data, the energy saving potential of the REC against an equivalent-sized mechanical air conditioner alone was analysed. The results indicate that, for all selected regions, the REC could reduce 53–100% of cooling load and 13–58% of electrical energy consumption annually.

Citation

Duan, Z., Zhao, X., Zhan, C., Dong, X., & Chen, H. (2017). Energy saving potential of a counter-flow regenerative evaporative cooler for various climates of China: Experiment-based evaluation. Energy and Buildings, 148, 199-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.04.012

• Acceptance Date: Apr 6, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Apr 7, 2018
• Publication Date: 2017-08
• Deposit Date: May 10, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 10, 2018
• Journal: Energy and buildings
• Print ISSN: 0378-7788
• Electronic ISSN: 1872-6178
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 148
• Pages: 199-210
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.04.012
• Keywords: Mechanical Engineering; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Building and Construction
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/451301
• Publisher URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378778816315560
• Additional Information: This is the accepted manuscript of an article published in Energy and buildings, 2017. The version of record is available at the DOI link in this record.