Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 932e936

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

A simplified model for analysis of heat and mass transfer in a direct

evaporative cooler
A. Fouda a, *, Z. Melikyan b
a
Department of Mechanical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Mansoura University, Egypt
b
Association of Energy Engineers (AEE), Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction, Armenia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper heat and mass transfer, process in direct evaporative cooler is discussed. A simplified
Received 2 October 2009 mathematical model is developed to describe the heat and mass transfer between air and water in
Accepted 10 November 2010 a direct evaporative cooler. The model consists of the governing equations with their boundary condi-
Available online 20 November 2010
tions and some associated algebraic equations. The related latent heat of water evaporation is taken as
a heat source in the energy equation, and the mass of evaporated water is treated as a mass source in the
Keywords:
mass equation. The study presents a comparison of the computed results with that of experimental
Air conditioning system
results for the same evaporative cooler. A good agreement between the calculated and experimental
Evaporating cooling system
Direct evaporative cooler
results is achieved. The influences of the inlet frontal air velocity, pad thickness, inlet air dry-bulb
Mathematical model temperature on the cooling efficiency of the evaporative cooler are calculated and analyzed. The pre-
dicted results show validity of simple mathematical model to design the direct evaporative cooler, and
that the direct evaporative cooler with high performance pad material may be well applied for air
conditioning systems.
Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Ordinary air conditioning systems are big consumers of elec-
tricity for operating refrigerating machines. The cold produced by
refrigerators is used for cooling the air before supplying into the
served house. In developed hot weather countries, the peak of
electricity supply takes place in summer period because of opera-
tion of a great number of air conditioners. To reduce energy
consumption for air conditioning purposes at present different
principles for air cooling are investigated. One of them is the
evaporative cooling thermodynamic process which is based on
cooling of water in process of its evaporation and consequently
rejection of latent heat. To carry out an evaporative cooling an
immediate contact of water and air should be accomplished in
special equipment called direct evaporative cooler.
Mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer processes in
evaporative fluid coolers was a subject of numerous works. Among
them the works of Wu et al. [1,2], Dai and Sumathy [3], Stabat et al.
[4], Fisenko et al. [5], Hawlader and Liu [6], Tan and Deng [7], and
Zalwski and Gryglaszewski [8]. Wu et al. [1,2] presented a mathe-
matical model in tow dimension steady state condition to describe
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: eng_alifouda_2007@yahoo.com (A. Fouda), zohrabmelikyan@
yahoo.com (Z. Melikyan).
the heat and moisture transfer between water and air in a direct
evaporative cooler. They also presented the analyzed of heat and
mass transfer process in a direct evaporative cooler for pad mate-
rial. Dai and Sumathy [3] theoretically investigated a cross-flow
direct evaporative cooler, in which the wet durable honeycomb
paper constituted as the pad material, and the air channels formed
by alternate layers of two kinds of papers with different wave
angles were regarded as parallel plate channels with constant
spacing. Air flows cross the falling water film through the channels,
being cooled and humidified. The governing equations for the
falling film and moist air are solved by integration. Obviously the
effects of the wave angles of the pad paper on the heat and mass
transfer enhancement are neglected.
The present paper theoretically analyzed the heat and mass
transfer in the direct evaporative cooler based on some reasonable
assumptions. The theoretical analysis method of the heat and mass
transfer in the cooling tower is referenced in present analysis. The
relationship between the cooling efficiency and its influence factors
for the direct evaporative cooler with porous durable honeycomb
papers as pad material is considered.
2. Evaporative cooling principle and systems characteristics
When air is pushed (or pulled) through a wetted medium, the
air becomes cooler and more humid. As wetted medium can serve

1359-4311/$ e see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2010.11.016
 A. Fouda, Z. Melikyan / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 932e936
Nomenclature
cp specific heat of air, kJ/kg K
d air humidity ratio, kg/kg
D effective thermal diffusion coefficient of air, m2/s
ds saturated air humidity ratio, kg/kg
h specific enthalpy of moist air, kJ/kg
hs specific enthalpy of saturated air at wet-bulb
temperature, kJ/kg
k thermal conductivity of air, W/m K
ka volumetric mass transfer coefficient, kg/m3 s
mv mass source term, kg/m3 s
patm atmospheric pressure, Pa
pst saturation pressure, Pa
pv vapor pressure, Pa
qv heat source term, W/m3
t air temperature,  C
T air temperature, K
air washers or heat and mass exchangers which are filled by strips
of aspen or other humidity absorbing wooden materials. Thermo-
dynamically this is a heat and mass exchange process between air
and water. The water absorbs the air sensible heat and then returns
it to the air by the help of water vapor in form of latent heat.
As a result, the temperature of air decreases, specific humidity
increases and enthalpy rests constants. For this reason, the process
is called adiabatic humidification or isenthalpic cooling of the air.
The degree to which the air is cooled depends on a number of
factors, including initial temperature ta, specific humidity da, gr/kg
and relative humidity 4a, % of air. As the cooled air can be used for
cooling purposes the process is called evaporative cooling.
According to the described characteristics, the evaporative cooling
process of air can be plotted in the “enthalpyehumidity” or “ied”
psychometric diagram of humid air as shown in the Fig. 1. As shown
from Fig. 1, the air with initial temperature t1 ¼ 32  C, after evap-
orative cooling by the isenthalpic process “1e2” gets final
temperature t2 ¼ 18  C. The air with such a low temperature can be
supplied into a house for cooling purposes. The cold air absorbing
Fig. 1. Evaporative cooling process of air “1e2” plotted in the “ied” psychometric
diagram of humid air.
933
u air flow velocity in x direction, m/s
V frontal air velocity, m/s
Subscripts
1 inlet
2 outlet
db dry-bulb
wb wet-bulb
a air
w water
Greek symbols
d thickness of pad material, m
h cooling efficiency
r air density, kg/m3
4 relative humidity, %
m dynamic viscosity, kg/m s
the heat of internal space of the house is heated by the process
“2e3” up to a temperature t3 ¼ 25  C required for comfort condi-
tions and then completely is evacuated from the house.
The described process of house air conditioning can be accom-
plished by the help of a system shown in the Fig. 2.
The system operates in the following way: the outside air enters
into air humidifier where after having washed by water pumped by
pump passes evaporative cooling process by line “1e2” as it is shown
in the Fig. 1. As a result the air is cooled and humidified and at state
“2” is supplied by fan into the internal space of the served house. In
the house air absorbs heat gains and keeps inside temperature on the
comfort level shown in “ied” diagram by point “3”. The described
system is called “Direct” evaporative system. Since this tends to
pressurize the home, the air is directed to openings on the external
constructions, typically windows or dampers in the ceiling. This
controls the distribution of cooled air since larger openings are
associated with greater flow. Ceiling dampers, also called “up ducts,”
typically consist of grills in the ceiling connected to short ducts that
traverse attic insulation of the house. They have a hinged lid on the
top that opens when the home is pressurized by the evaporative
cooler blower and closes when the home is not pressurized. A system
that uses up ducts can effectively direct cooling air to where it is
needed without having to open windows. This provides a measure of
security and allows for the cooler to be safely controlled by a ther-
mostat. This arrangement also cools the attic, thereby lowering the
temperature gradient between the home and the attic. As higher the
Fig. 2. Constructive scheme of evaporative cooling air conditioning system.
934 A. Fouda, Z. Melikyan / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 932e936

Fig. 4. Physical description of the problem and coordinate system.

4.1. Basic equations for moist air

The governing equations including the mass continuity,

momentum conservation, energy conservation, and mass conser-
vation for moist air are as follows:
Mass continuity equation

vu
Fig. 3. Schematic of direct evaporative cooler.
r ¼ mv (1)
vx
Momentum equation in x direction
intensity of airewater contacts in the humidifier as cooler the air (2)
at the outlet. In case of ideal contact the air exits from the humidifier vu vu v2 u
with lowest possible temperature equal to the air’s wet-bulb r þ ru ¼ m 2  mv u (2)
vt vx vx
temperature shown by the point “4” in the “ied” psychometric
diagram of Fig. 1. Energy conservation equation

vT vT v2 T
rcp þ rucp ¼ k 2  qv (3)
3. Description of the direct evaporative cooler vt vx vx
Mass conservation equation of the moisture in the air
In modern high efficiency coolers the old-style humidifying
media made from aspen has been replaced by engineered, plastic- vd vd v2 d mv
coated cellulose rigid cooling pads that clean the air and clean r þu ¼ D 2 (4)
vt vx vx r
themselves while cooling air efficiently. Consisting of very wet table
porous material, they are kept moist by water dripped continuously Where d e air humidity ratio kgw/kga; T e air temperature, K;
onto the upper edges. The lifetime of modern media is five to ten D e effective thermal diffusion coefficient of air, m2/s; mv e mass
times that of older excelsior. Fig. 2 shows the configuration of direct source term, kg/m3 s; qv e heat source term.
evaporative cooler. The experience of use of Direct Evaporative The above equations are subject to the following initial and
Cooling Systems shows that they have certain advantages and boundary conditions:
disadvantages. The advantages are: 1 e Simple proven technology; The initial conditions are:
2 e Low initial cost, 3 e Rather high energy efficiency, 4 e Easy 
Tðx; 0Þ ¼ T1
operation and maintenance; 5 e Providing of excellent ventilation of (5)
da ðx; 0Þ ¼ d1
served houses, as uses 100% outside air. The most important
advantage is up to 75% energy savings compared to conventional air Boundary conditions are:
conditioning systems. The disadvantages are: 1 e Does not work
well in humid days or in humid climatic conditions; 2 e Requires Tð0; tÞ ¼ T1 (6)
venting through open windows or relief dampers; 3 e If not well
designed produces high humidity within conditioned space in dð0; tÞ ¼ d1 (7)
certain climatic conditions; 4 e Water quality has a major impact vT
upon system performance and maintenance requirements. Fig. 3 ¼ 0 (8)
vx x¼d
shows the schematic diagram of direct evaporative cooler.
vd
¼ 0 (9)
4. Mathematical model vx x¼d

According to Hawlader and Liu [6], the mass source, mv, and heat
Fig. 4 shows the Physical description of the problem and coor-
source, qv, can be determined by the following equations:
dinate system. To simplify the heat and mass transfer analysis, the
following assumptions are made: mv ¼ ka ðds  dÞ (10)

1- The heat and mass transfer process are performed in one

qv ¼ ka ðhs  hÞ (11)
dimension unsteady.
2- The pad material is easily and uniformly wetted. Where ka e volumetric mass transfer coefficient of the padding
3- Thickens of the water film on the pad surface is very thin. material, kg/m3 s
4- The air thermal properties, density and specific heat are According to Wu et al. [1], the volumetric mass transfer coeffi-
constant. cient, ka, of the padding material for GLASdek filler made from
 A. Fouda, Z. Melikyan / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 932e936 935

Table 1
Comparisons between data obtained by suggested model and by experimental work [2].

No. Inlet temperature Outlet temperature and outlet humidity ratio Discrepancy between estimated
by model and observed data [2],  C/%
Dry-bulb/ C Wet-bulb/ C Measured temperature/ C Calculated outlet temperature/ C Calculated outlet humidity
of humidified air in the pad [2] of humidified air in the pad by ratio (g/kg) by suggested model
suggested model
1 27.21 20.15 22.9 22 13.8 0.9/3.9
2 27.84 19.06 22.6 21.5 12.8 1.1/4.8
3 28.54 20.55 23.5 22.5 14.5 1/4.2
4 30.5 18.86 22.77 22.15 12.35 0.62/2.7
5 33.09 21.69 25.49 25 16 0.49/1.9
6 35.01 20.36 25.9 25.2 12.8 0.7/2.7
7 37.06 23.42 28.01 27.8 16.5 0.21/0.7

special fiberglass by Munters Company in Switzerland can be

determined by the following equation:

ka ¼ 20:4:V 0:65 (12)

Where V e frontal air velocity, m/s.
The enthalpy, wet-bulb temperature, and humidity ratio of
moist air can be determined from the following formulas:

h ¼ cp t þ dð2500 þ 1:84tÞ (13)

twb ¼ 2:265ð1:97 þ 4:3tdb þ 10000dÞ0:5 14:85 (14)

where:

0:622pv
d ¼ (15)
patm  pv
The pressure of saturated water vapor on the surface of
honeycomb humidifier is determined by following formula:
 
3816:44
pst ¼ exp 23:196  (16)
T  46:13
The mass diffusion coefficient of vapor in the air is expressed by
the following equation [9]: Fig. 6. Variation of outlet air temperature at different of values of frontal velocity.

Fig. 7. Influences of pad thickness on the cooling efficiency at different values of

Fig. 5. Variation of outlet air temperature at different values of pad thickness. frontal velocity.
936 A. Fouda, Z. Melikyan / Applied Thermal Engineering 31 (2011) 932e936
Fig. 8. Influences of frontal air velocity on the cooling efficiency at different values of
pad thickness.
 
Ta 1:81
D ¼ 2:256 x105
256
The cooling efficiency (saturating efficiency) can be determined
from the following formula:
t1  t2
h¼
t1  twb
The aforementioned governing equations may be written
discretely by finite difference equations for implicit sequence,
center difference scheme. Because the equations are strongly
coupled and non-linear, iterations procedures were necessary to
accomplish to get converged values for each chosen period of
rotation. The mathematical model created based on described
method is rather complicated for using them in evaporative cooling
air conditioning systems design procedures. Therefore, we have
developed software which serves as sub program for computerized
determining of all constructive and parametrical values of direct
evaporative cooler. The program of calculation is composed in
FORTRAN language.
5. Results and discussion
To test and verify the adequacy of the suggested mathematical
model and program, the theoretical results from the mathematical
model was compared with the experimental data [2], to make sure
that the results of the mathematical model program are accurate
because the authors were not able to arrange a proper experi-
mental installation. In the experimental work [2], was used the
same type of direct evaporative cooler as it was modeled in this
paper. The comparison of data received by present model with
experimental data received in [2], are represented in the Table 1.
The data presented in Table 1 are for: direct evaporative cooler
using GLASdek as pad material with thickness of 138 mm and an
inlet frontal velocity of 2 m/s [2]. The comparison shows that
theoretical results are very close to the results obtained by
experiments in [2]. Therefore, the developed model has satisfactory
adequacy and can be successfully used in designing works of direct
evaporative coolers.
Fig. 5 shows the effect of the pad thickness in unsteady condi-
tions on the outlet air temperature from humidifier. When the pad
thickness is increased, outlet air temperature is decreased, but the
period of achieving the steady state condition takes longer, because
the bigger mass of the pad. The effect of the frontal velocity on the
outlet air temperature from humidifier during unsteady condition
is shown by Fig. 6, which proves that in case of growing of frontal
velocity, the outlet air temperature is decreased, and steady state
condition is rapidly achieved.
Fig. 7 shows the effect of pad thickness on the cooling efficiency
at different values of frontal air velocity at steady state conditions.
The cooling efficiency is increased with increasing of the pad
thickness. This is because the contact surface between water and air
is increased.
Fig. 8 indicates that during steady state condition, the cooling
efficiency is decreased with increasing inlet frontal air velocity. This
can be explained by sorter duration of air and water contact in the
medium of the pad.
6. Conclusions
1. It can be stated that the proposed simplified mathematical
model of a direct evaporative cooler is in a good agreement
with experimental results.
(17)
2. The proved validity of the suggested mathematical model
makes it usable to predict the performance of a direct evapo-
rative cooler.
3. As the direct evaporative cooler rapidly achieves the steady
state conditions, therefore, there is not need to apply the
(18) mathematical model for unsteady conations.
4. The optimum frontal air velocity should be assumed 2.5 m/s, as
it provides higher efficiency and takes short time to achieve the
steady state conditions.
5. The mathematical model can serve as sub model for a global
mathematical model of a completely direct evaporative cooling
air conditioning system.
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