Energy and Exergy Analysis of Direct Evaporative Cooling System

IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering (IIJME)
Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJME/IIJME.htm

Email: editoriijme@ipasj.org
ISSN 2321-6441
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Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2016
Energy and Exergy Analysis of Direct

Evaporative Cooling System
Sachdeva A1., Rajput S.P.S.2, Kothari A.3
1
Mechanical Engineering Department, OCT, Bhopal (M.P.)
Mechanical Engineering Department, MANIT, Bhopal (M.P.)
Mechanical Engineering Department, UIT, RGPV, Bhopal (M.P.)
ABSTRACT
In this paper energy and exergy analysis of direct evaporative cooling system is presented. In this study ambient temperature,
saturation specific humidity of the process and pressure at the end of the process is considered as the dead state. Variations in
wet-bulb Saturation Effctiveness, change in thermal exergy, change in chemical exergy, total inlet exergy, total outlet exergy
and exergy efficiency is analysed for pads of different thickness with constant face velocity. It is observed that for a give
thickness of pads exergy efficiency does not change as wet bulb saturation efficiency changes.
Keywords: Direct Evaporative Cooling, Saturation Efficiency, Exergy, Thermal exergy, Chemical Exergy, Exergy Efficiency
1.NTRODUCTION
It is believed that evaporative cooling was first used in ancient Egypt, around 1000 A.D. During that period evaporative
cooling was used for preservation of food items against hot weather conditions. For cooling the inside space, walls were
integrated with water chutes. These concepts of preservation of food items and space cooling were spread in the other
hot and arid regions of the world.
In case of evaporative cooling part of sensible heat of hot air is converted into the latent heat of water which is
responsible for the evaporation of water. For the evaporation of water to take place spray of water, porous fibres pads,
cellulose papers etc. are used.
On the basis of contact of water and air, evaporative cooling system can be classified in two categories, first one is
direct evaporative cooling (DEC) system and the second one is indirect evaporative cooling system (IEC). In case of
DEC direct contact of air and the water takes place. And in case of IEC there is always a film or sheet of matter which
allows only the sensible heat of hot air to transfer from one side to another side. These two modes of evaporative
cooling systems can be combined to produce greater level of cooling effect. These modes can also be used in the form of
hybrid cooling systems.
Evaporative cooling technology has many advantages like supply of fresh air, use of water in place of CFCs as working
fluid, ease of manufacturing, lesser power requirements, easy maintenance and in maintaining suitable level of
humidity in drier regions. Evaporative cooling has many environmental benefits which include reduction of CO2 and
CFC/HCFC emissions.
The minimum temperature that can be achieved is the WBT of the entering air [1]. To better understand and improve
the effectiveness of evaporative cooling systems, exergy analysis can be used besides the energy analysis. The term
exergy was introduced by Rant in 1953. Exergy analysis uses principles conservation of mass simultaneously. Exergy
analysis is based on second law of thermodynamics. Exergy is always calculated with respect to a dead state and it is
destroyed due to irreversibilities of the process. Imperfections of thermodynamic systems can be quantified as exergy
destruction with the help of exergy analysis, which represent losses in energy quality or usefulness (Dincer and Rosen,
2007).
2.LITERATURE REVIEW
In the field of direct evaporative cooling several authors dedicated their researches. Watt [1] developed the first serious
analyses of direct and indirect evaporative systems,
Halasz [2] presented a general dimensionless mathematical model to describe all evaporative cooling devices namely
cooling water towers, evaporative condensers of fluid, air washes, dehumidification coils, etc. Camargo et al. [3]
presented the principles of operation for direct and indirect evaporative cooling systems and the mathematical
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ISSN 2321-6441
development of thermal exchanges equations, Koca et al. [4] have developed a procedure for testing evaporative cooling
pads. Their results show that pad performance is affected by pad angle, pad thickness, face air velocity, and static
pressure drop across the pad and can be expressed in terms of evaporative cooling efficiency and static pressure drop.
Dai et al. [5] solved governing equations for cross-flow direct evaporative cooler using an integration method. They
used honeycomb paper as packing material and assumed constant space between channels and they simply modelled the
thin water film on surfaces. Their results showed that the performance improve by optimizing length of the air channel
of honeycomb paper, mass flow rates of air and feed water. Kruger [6] emphasized that the use of direct evaporative
cooling system in humid places such as Maracaibo is not effective. In this way, indirect evaporative cooling system
came to birth, gained its popularity and developed for more than a century.Liao et al. [7] developed a wind tunnel
technique for measuring performance of the evaporative cooling pads. Liao et al. [8] investigated the effects of air
velocity and pad thickness on the efficiency and pressure drop of evaporative cooling pads. Al-Sulaiman [9]
experimentally evaluated the performance of three natural fibres (palm fibre, jute and luffa) as wetted pads in
evaporating cooling. Gunhan et al. [10] experimentally evaluated the suitability of greenhouse shading net, pumice
stones and volcanic tuff as pad materials for use in evaporative coolers. Khond [11] investigated the performance of
evaporative cooler using four different pad materials i.e. stainless steel wire mesh, coconut coir, khus and wood wool.
Dzivama et al. [12] they used ground sponge, stem sponge, jute fibre and charcoal as pads for an evaporative cooler
Kulkarni et al [13] analyzed the performance of jute fibre ropes as alternative cooling media as ropes are capable of
retaining high moisture and have a large wetted surface area. Hot and dry air is allowed to flow over the wet jute rope
bank tightly held between two plates which are integral part of two tanks.
Kulkarni et al [14] theoretically analyzed the performance of evaporative cooler pads of rigid cellulose, corrugated
paper, high density polythene packing and aspen fibre having rectangular, cylindrical and hexagonal shape.
In the field of exergy analysis, Dincer [15] presented the linkages between energy and exergy, exergy and the
environment, energy and sustainable development, and energy policy making. Chengqin et al. [16] reported the exergy
analysis of the HVAC systems. To eliminate the exergy calculation of water at ambient temperature an unusual dead
state is selected. Alhamzy [17] analyses an air-conditioning process based on the exergy analysis and calculates the
minimum work required for dehumidification process. Qureshi et al. [18] applied the exergy analysis to various
psychrometric processes and calculated irreversibility in each processes. Kanoglua et al.[19] applied the exergy analysis
on an open desiccant cooling process. Certain ideal operating characteristics based exergy analysis is assumed for each
component. Qureshi et al. [20] applied the exergy analysis of cooling towers and evaporative heat exchangers. They
calculated the irreversible losses of each system. They reported that an increase in the inlet WBT increases the exergy
efficiency of heat exchanger. Taufiq et al. [21] study the performance of DEC in a Malaysian building on the basis of
second law of thermodynamics. The average RH and were chosen as the dead state. They reported that an increase in
RH increases second law efficiency. Muangnoi et al. [22] applied the exergy analysis of cooling towers. They reported
that irreversibility is higher at bottom of a cooling tower. Kanoglu et al. [23] applied the exergy analysis on
psychrometric processes. They studied the effects of ambient temperature and RH at the inlet and exit of air. They
reported that the processes with low second law efficiency and high exergy destruction have great scope of
improvements. Chen et al. [24] analyzed ECS based on moisture entransy theory. They reported that for better
efficiency of system should have minimum thermal resistance.
3.EXERGY ANALYSIS
The exergy balance for the control volume of the ECS is expressed by
in Ex
out Ex
dest Ex
lost
Ex
where Exout ,
(1)
in Ex
lost
Ex
,
and Exdest are the exergy output rate, exergy input rate, exergy loss rate and exergy destruction
rate respectively.
Rate of exergy input Exin is

in Ex
in,da Ex
in, w
Ex
in Ex
in,da Ex
in,w
Ex
in , w m wew m daSI ew
Ex
(2)
(3)
(4)
Sp. exergy rate of dry air

T
T
P
eda c pdaT0 SI 1 ln SI RaT0 ln
R T ln(1 0 )
T0
P0 a 0
T0
(5)
and for water sp. exergy rate
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ISSN 2321-6441
ew ( h f (TSI ) hg ( T0 ) ) T0 ( s f (TSI ) s g (T0 ) )
(6)
( P Psat ( TSI ) )v f (TSI ) RwvT0 ln
P0
Psup ply
(7)
out is
The rate of sp. exergy output Ex
out m daet
Ex
(8)
T
T
P
et (c pda SI c pw )T0 SI 1 ln SI (1 SI ) RaT0 ln
T0
P0
T0
(1 0 )

RaT0 (1 SI ) ln
SI ln SI
(1
)
0
SI
(9)
T
T
P
et (c pda SI c pw )T0 SI 1 ln SI (1 SI ) RaT0 ln
T
T
P
0
0
0
(1 0 )
SI
RaT0 (1 SI ) ln
SI ln
(1 SI )
0
(10)
Exergy loss rate is
loss Q cooling 1 T0
Ex
(11)
dest Ex
in Ex
out Ex
lost
Ex
(12)
Ex
S dest
(13)
TSI
Exergy destruction rate is

Entropy generated rate is
T0
Second law efficiency is
Ex
et
out
Ex
e
SI ew
in
da
(14)
Sp. exergy of moist air is

T
T
exth (c pa c pv )T0 1 ln
T0
T0
(15)
Mechanical sp. exergy of moist air is

exmech (1 1.608 ) RaT0 ln
p
p0
(16)
Chemical Sp. exergy of moist air is
(1 1.6080 )
exchem RaT0 (1 1.608 ) ln

1.608 ln
(1 1.608 )
0
(17)
Total sp. exergy of moist air is
ex exth exmech exchem
(18)
w RvT0 ln 0
(19)
m a a1 m w w m a a 2 I 0
(20)
m w m a ( 2 1 )
(21)
Sp. exergy of water is

Exergy Analysis for DEC
4.VARIATION IN SATURATION EFFICIENCY

Wet-bulb saturation efficiency of DEC decreases with increase in the air mass flow rate. This is expected because with
increase in air mass flow rate, air has lesser contact time with water layer causing less evaporation of water. Saturation
efficiency of DEC increases with increase in the thickness of cooling pads. This is also expected because with increase
in the thickness of the cooling air gets greater contact time with water layer causing higher evaporation of water. For 5
cm thick pads saturation efficiency varied from 48.7 to 59.6%, for 10cm thick pads saturation efficiency varied from
70.4 to 80.1% and for 15cm thick pads saturation efficiency varied from 81.9 to 88.5%. The overall variation in the
saturation efficiency is from 48.7 to 88.5%.
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ISSN 2321-6441
Fig. 1. Variations of saturation efficiency of pads of different thickness with Reynolds number.
5.CHANGE IN THERMAL EXERGY
Fig. 2. Variations of change in Thermal Exergy of inlet air with Wet bulb Depression.
For 5 cm thick pads Thermal Exergy varied from 59 to 148 for 10cm thick pads Thermal Exergy varied from 119 to
299 and for 15cm thick pads Thermal Exergy varied from 156 to 390. The overall variation in the Thermal Exergy is
from 59 to 390.
6.CHANGE IN CHEMICAL EXERGY

For 5 cm thick pads Chemical Exergy varied from 20.2 to 42.7 for 10cm thick pads Chemical Exergy varied from 5.0
to 10.8 and for 15cm thick pads Chemical Exergy varied from 2.0 to 4.0. The overall variation in the Chemical Exergy
is from 2 to 42.7.
Fig. 3. Variations of change in Chemical Exergy of inlet air with Wet bulb Depression.
7.Total input Exergy

For 5 cm thick pads Total Output Exergy varied from 470 to 119010cm thick pads Total Output Exergy varied from
636 to 1589and for 15cm thick pads Total Output Exergy varied from 737 to 1804. The overall variation in the Total
Output Exergy is from 470 to 1804.
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ISSN 2321-6441
Fig. 4. Variations of Total Exergy of inlet air with Wet bulb Depression.
8.Total Output Exergy

For 5 cm thick pads Total Output Exergy varied from 79 to 207for 10cm thick pads Total Output Exergy varied from
125 to 317 and for 15cm thick pads Total Output Exergy varied from 158 to 397. The overall variation in the Total
Output Exergy is from 79 to 397.
Fig. 5. Variations of Total Exergy of outlet air with Wet bulb Depression.
9.Exergy Efficiency
For 5 cm thick pads Exergy Efficiency varied from 16.9 to 17.5 for 10cm thick pads Exergy Efficiency varied from 19.7
to 19.9 and for 15cm thick pads Exergy Efficiency varied from 21.4 to 22.1. The overall variation in the Exergy
Efficiency is from 16.9 to 22.1.
Fig. 6. Variations of Exergy Efficiency of DEC with Wet bulb Depression.
10.Conclusion
After decades of research and development in the field of evaporative cooling optimization of system and process
design could not be achieved. This is due to high dependency of the evaporative cooling process on the ambient
parameters. It is observed that for a give thickness of pads Second Law Efficiency does not changes as wet bulb saturation
efficiency changes.
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AUTHOR
Adarsh Sachdeva received Bachelor of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T.S.
Gwalior (M.P.) in 1992 and Mater of Engineering degree in Industrial Metallurgy from I.I.T. Roorkee
(U.K.) in 1994. He has long academic and administrative experience of technical education. He worked
as Dean Faculty of Engineering, Peoples University, Bhopal (M.P.) and presently working at Oriental
Group of Institutes, Bhopal (M.P.).
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IPASJ International Journal of Mechanical Engineering (IIJME)

Web Site: http://www.ipasj.org/IIJME/IIJME.htm

A Publisher for Research Motivation........

Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2016