Numerical investigation on the heat and mass transfer in a direct evaporative cooler

A simplified mathematical model is developed to describe the heat and moisture transfer between water and air in a direct evaporative cooler. The mass of evaporated water is treated as a mass source of air flow, and the related latent heat of water evaporation is taken as a heat source in the energy equation. The momentum caused by water evaporation is taken into account in the momentum equations. The effective air viscosity and diffusion coefficient are decided experimentally. The models and methods are validated by comparing the numerical results with those of experiment for the same evaporative cooler. The influences of the inlet frontal air velocity, pad thickness, inlet air dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures oil the cooling efficiency of the evaporative cooler are calculated and analyzed. The cooling effects of the direct evaporative cooler are predicted for use in four different regions in northwest China using the present numerical method and local weather data for air conditioning design. The predicted results show the direct evaporative cooler with high performance pad material may be well applied for air conditioning with reasonable choices for the inlet frontal velocity and pad thickness. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.