Climatic applicability of downdraught cooling in China

This study describes the work on the development of climatic applicability maps of downdraught cooling in China. A new approach is proposed for the map, based on three related climatic characteristics: cooling degree hours, dry bulb temperature–wet bulb temperature and 26°C-wet bulb temperature. The potential opportunity of using different types of downdraught cooling, such as passive downdraught evaporative cooling, active downdraught cooling and hybrid downdraught cooling, as an alternative to conventional air conditioning was assessed for different climate regions. Three cities representing the three major climatic regions (hot and dry, hot and moderate humid, hot and high humid) were selected for climatic analysis. The bioclimatic charts are used to test whether downdraught cooling might achieve summer thermal comfort in different climates of China. Seven climate zones were identified for downdraught cooling application in China, and appropriate design strategies suggested.