Performance Assessment of a Hybrid Vapor Compression and Evaporative Cooling Fresh-Air-Handling Unit Operating in Hot Climates

Evaporative cooling can be integrated into fresh-air-handling units, to reduce cooling demand. This study considers a hybrid fresh-air-handling unit which incorporates a vapor-compression cooling cycle and indirect evaporative cooling to condition an ambient primary airstream to a desired supply air...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProcesses Vol. 7; no. 12; p. 872
Main Authors Al Horr, Yousef, Tashtoush, Bourhan, Chilengwe, Nelson, Musthafa, Mohamed
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 2019
Subjects
Air conditioning
Alternative energy sources
Climate change
Climatic conditions
Compression
Compression tests
Cooling
Cooling effects
Cooling systems
Emission standards
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Environmental impact
Evaporative cooling
Green buildings
Handling
Heat exchangers
Hot climates
Performance assessment
Solar energy
Vapors
Middle East
Qatar
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Summary:Evaporative cooling can be integrated into fresh-air-handling units, to reduce cooling demand. This study considers a hybrid fresh-air-handling unit which incorporates a vapor-compression cooling cycle and indirect evaporative cooling to condition an ambient primary airstream to a desired supply air state. The cooling effects of using various modes (vapor compression only; direct expansion with mist; direct expansion with water shower; and direct expansion with mist and water shower) are compared when the fresh-air-handling unit operates in harsh (hot and humid) climatic conditions experienced in Qatar. Experimental analysis is based on actual ambient conditions measured from August 2018 to July 2019. It is found that the best-performing wet mode of operation saves more than 60% of the energy required by a conventional direct expansion cooling system operating under the same ambient conditions. In hot, dry conditions, the coefficient of performance of the fresh-air-handling unit when using the indirect evaporative mode of operation is double the coefficient of performance when operating with direct expansion mode only.
ISSN:2227-9717
2227-9717
DOI:10.3390/pr7120872