Parametric analysis of a counter-flow dew point evaporative cooler

Dew point evaporative cooling (DPEC), a type of indirect evaporative cooling where a single stream of air flows sequentially through the dry and wet channels, can cool air theoretically to its dew point temperature. In this study, the effects of design parameters, operating parameters, and inlet air condition to the cooling performance of a counter-flow DPEC was investigated. It has been shown that for the nominal condition of channel length = 1m, channel height = 5mm, inlet air velocity = 1.5 m/s, and working air ratio = 0.3, the inlet air with temperature of 30^o C and humidity of 0.010 kg/kg da was cooled to 19.3^oC which is lower that its wet bulb temperature of 19.6^oC. The temperature can be cooled further by increasing the channel length, decreasing the channel height, decreasing the inlet air velocity, or increasing the working air ratio.