Experimental Evaluation of a Multistage Reciprocating Evaporative Cooler Performance for Varied Climatic Conditions

• Published in: Journal of thermal science Vol. 32; no. 4; pp. 1523 - 1535
• Main Authors: Suranjan Salins, Sampath, Kota Reddy, S. V., Kumar, Shiva
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air quality; Air temperature; Camshafts; Classical and Continuum Physics; Cooling; Cooling loads; Engineering Fluid Dynamics; Engineering Thermodynamics; Evaporation rate; Evaporative cooling; Heat and Mass Transfer; Humidification; Humidity; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Velocity; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; humidification efficiency; reciprocating packing; evaporative cooling; multistage humidifier
• ISSN: 1003-2169; 1993-033X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11630-023-1736-8

Current system focuses on design & construction of a multistage reciprocating evaporative cooling test rig. Four packings that are used will undergo the reciprocating action, powered by the cam follower mechanism maintained at an actual rotation speed. Inlet dry bulb temperature & humidity values are varied to replicate the varying climatic conditions, and the output parameters such as cooling load, evaporation rate (ER), humidification efficiency (HE), coefficient of performance (COP) are obtained. Output results showed that as inlet humidity raises, the performance of system drops. With the rise in the camshaft speed or packing velocity, there is an upsurge in the performance until a cam speed of 10 r/min or packing velocity of 0.083 m/s and with further increases in the value, overall performance drops. The system gave a maximum COP, ER, and HE equal to 3.80, 73.87%, and 0.53 g/kg respectively. A rise in the inlet air temperature yielded a maximum change in dry bulb temperature of 8.2°C. Overall, results indicated that evaporative cooling is more effective in arid climates than the cold and humid climates. Air quality test is performed to measure CO 2 , Total Volatile Organic Compound (TVOC), and Formaldehyde (HCHO), and it is found that humidified air entering the defined space is of excellent quality.