Investigation of an Evaporative Cooler for Buildings in Hot and Dry Climates

The paper presents a computer model and experimental results of a sub-wet bulb temperature evaporative cooling system for space cooling in buildings in hot and dry climates. The cooler uses porous ceramic materials as the wet media for water evaporation. Under selected test conditions of airflow dry bulb temperature of up to 45 o C and relative humidity of up to 50%, it was found that the supply air could be cooled to below the wet bulb temperature with a maximum cooling capacity of 280 W/m 2 of the wet ceramic surface area. It was also shown that the overall wet bulb effectiveness is greater than unity. This performance would make the system a potential alternative to conventional mechanical air conditioning systems in hot and dry regions.