Int. Comm. Heat Mass Transfer, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.

217-226, 1998
Pergamon Copyright © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd
Printed in the USA. All fights reserved
0735-1933/98 $19.00 + .00

PH S0735-1933(98)00008-6

A P A R A M E T R I C STUDY O F AN I N D I R E C T E V A P O R A T I V E A I R C O O L E R

X. C. Guo and T. S. Zhao*

Department of Mechanical Engineering
The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

(Communicated by J.P. Hartnett and W.J. M i n k o w y c z )

ABSTRACT
The thermal performance of an indirect evaporative air cooler is analyzed numerically. The
effects of a wide variety of parameters such as the velocities of the primary and the
secondary air stream, the channel width, the inlet relative humidity, and the wettability of
the plate on its thermal performance are investigated. It is shown that a smaller channel
width, a lower inlet relative humidity of the secondary air stream, a higher wettability of the
plate, and a higher velocity ratio of the secondary air to the primary air stream yield a higher
effectiveness of the indirect evaporative air cooler. The results are useful for the design of
an indirect evaporative air cooler. © 1998 ElsevierScienceLtd

Introduction

Evaporative cooling is a simple and effective way of cooling an air stream. In a direct evaporative
cooler, the air stream to be cooled is in direct contact with a liquid water film and cooling is
accomplished by the adiabatic heat exchange between the air stream and the liquid water film. The
evaporation of water in the air stream leads to a reduction in the dry-bulb temperature. However, this will
also concurrently cause an increase of the humidity ratio of the air stream. Generally, the maximum
possible reduction in air dry-bulb temperature depends on the difference between the dry-bulb and the
wet-bulb temperature of the air stream. In many applications, however, the increase of humidity in a
supply air stream is not desirable. In this case an indirect evaporative cooling system can be employed.
As illustrated in Fig. 1, a typical indirect evaporative cooling unit consists of a series of parallel plates
with every second slot open for the air to be cooled (referring to the primary air flow) flowing in the
horizontal direction. In every other slot of the parallel plates, a secondary air stream flows upward while
the liquid water is sprayed downward in the vertical plates. The primary air stream is not direct contact
with liquid water and is cooled by the plate in which the distributed water film evaporates in the
secondary air stream. For this reason, the indirect evaporative cooling does not affect the absolute

To whom correspondence should be addressed

217
 218 X.C. Guo and T.S. Zhao Vol. 25, No. 2

humidity of the primary air stream while reducing its temperature. The major challenge in the design of
an indirect evaporating cooling system is to achieve high heat and mass transfer rates and low pressure
drops, so that an indirect evaporative cooling unit can be more efficient and more compact.

The thermal analysis of an indirect evaporative cooling unit is inherently complicated because the
cooling process involves simultaneous heat and mass transfer at the liquid film-air interface. McClaine-
Cross and Banks [ 1] analyzed the performance of a wet surface heat exchanger by using one-dimensional
mathematical model. They made their calculation for the whole area of the heat and mass transfer plate
based on the averaged temperatures and the averaged humidity ratios at entry and exit of the heat
exchanger. Another assumption they made was that the plates were completely wet. Their results are 20
percent higher than the experimental data. A more detailed analysis has been carried out by Hsieh and
Kettleborough [2] and for the counterflow heat exchangers and by Kettleborough [3]. In both cases the
analysis was conducted by considering a single plate and the velocities were assumed to be constant; the
computed effectiveness was 14 percent greater than experimental values. In the later studies people [4-8]
noticed the complexity of various effects (physical and structural properties) in the evaporative channels
and turned to investigated those effects on the thermal performance of the unit. Kettleborough [4] derived
the heat and mass balance equations for the primary and secondary flows and studied the effect of
primary velocity on the cooler performance. However, their theoretical prediction did not agree well to
the experimental data by Pescode [9]. Wassel and Mills [5] illustrated a design methodology for a
countercurrent falling film evaporative cooler. It was found that narrow flow passages to be more
effective for the evaporative condenser. Hsu and Lavan [6] used an iterative, column-row, successive
over-relaxation technique to solve the governing equations in a cross-flow parallel plate regenerative
indirect evaporative cooler. They assumed that the water was locally replenished and the water layer was
negligibly thin (no thermal resistance). Erens and Dreyer [7] discussed three analytical models and their
results show that the optimum shape of the cooler unit would result in a primary to secondary air velocity
ratio of about 1.4, assuming that the primary and the secondary air mass flow rates are the same and that
the same plate spacings are used on the primary and secondary sides. Tsay [8] numerically analyzed a
countercurrent-flow wet surface heat exchanger. He compared the heat transfer rates in the wet surface
heat exchanger with those obtained in the dry surface heat exchanger, and found that the energy
transported across the liquid film was mostly absorbed by the film vaporization process.

The review of the previous work reveals that the interaction between the air streams and the water
film in an indirect evaporative air cooler is very complicated and a comprehensive study of the various
effects on its performance has not yet been performed. The purpose of the present work is two-fold: First,
to gain a better understanding of the heat and mass transfer process in the narrow vertical channels of the
 Vol. 25, No. 2 STUDY OF AN INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE AIR COOLER 219

indirect evaporative cooler. Secondly to illustrate the effects of various parameters on the thermal
performance of an indirect evaporative air cooler.

Analysis

Consider an indirect evaporative cooler unit consisting of a series of parallel plates shown in Fig. 1.
The analysis of the thermal performance of this typical indirect evaporative cooler will be based on the
following assumptions: (1) thermophysical properties of the air and the water are constant; (2) the
thermal resistance of the plate and the liquid film is negligible; (3) the temperature change of each air
stream is in the direction of flow only; (4) the heat transfer coefficients of primary and secondary flow
will be evaluated by h=54v a7 [9] with v being the velocity of the flow; (5) the Lewis number is unity,
hence: D~=hJcp with h~ and Dr being the heat and mass transfer coefficient in the secondary flow side
respectively, and ct, the specific heat of the air; and (6) the temperature of the water in the plate is the
same as the local temperature of the plate. We now take a control volume shown in Fig. 2, which
contains a section of the solid plate covered by a water layer on one side and is enclosed by the central
planes of the dry slot and the wet slot. The analysis will be conducted by dividing this control volume
into three parts.

mw+dmw Vs ms Ts +dTs
Tw+dTw ~'i ! ~ + ~ s w4dw
Spray wat, ew+d¢~'~ I / I
.-" d Lt
adlabatlcs / " ~ ~ ,
/ rnp'

Prima'~ i ~
i ~[ [ ~ ~ , / / a d i a b a t i c s
air flo~)~,

/ LJlV, / ~.4"~,,, " I ' w

Secondary air flow 512 hi2 x

FIG. 1 FIG.2
Schematic diagram of a typical Diagram of the control volume
indirect evaporative cooler
For the control volume in the primary flow side shown in Fig. 2, the energy conservation requires
that
~hl,c l,dTt, = -dQi, (1)
 220 X.C. Guo and T.S. Zhao Vol. 25, No. 2

where Cp is the specific heat of the air, Tt, the temperature of air at the inlet of the control volume, and the
mass flow rate of the primary air stream rhp and the heat flow rate across the plate to the water film dQp

are given, respectively, by

1
/G = ~ P G Ntz (2)

dQp = h pdydz(Tp - T~ ) (3)

with p being the density of the air, vp the velocity of the primary air stream, 5 the width of the
channel, Tw the temperature of the water film, and hp the heat transfer coefficient in the side of the
primary air stream. Substituting Eqs. (2)and (3) into Eq. (1), we obtain

dL h ( r . - L)
- dz (4)
dy rhl,c p

Now let us turn our attention to the control volume containing the water film. For the conservation
of energy at the air-water interface
rh.,.[cpE + W G ( E ) I + d Q . ~ +dQL = rh [cp(T., + d E ) + ( W + d W ) G ( L +dE) ] (5)

where m, and T, are the mass flow rate and temperature of the secondary flow, W the air humidity
ratio of the steam, and dQL denotes the heat transfer rate due to the water evaporation and is given by
dQ L = drhwe, (T,, ) (6)

In Eqs.(5) and (6) the latent heat of vaporization e,. and the evaporation rate of the water rnware

evaluated by
e ,(T) = cpT + W(2501.3 + 1.86T) (7)

drh = D ~(W~,, - W)~Mydz (8)

respectively, with W being the humidity ratio, W~a,the humidity ratio at the saturated state, De the
mass transfer coefficient, and ~t the wettability of the plate. In Eq. (5), the heat transfer rate between the
secondary air stream and the water film is given by
d Q , = h . , d y d z ( T w - T,) (9)
The mass balance of the secondary air and the water falling film requires that
/GW + drh = / n ( W + d W ) (10)

Equation (10) can be rewritten as

dW 1 drh w
(11)
dz - r n dz
where
1
rh = ~ pvs gdy (12)
 Vol. 25, No. 2 STUDY OF AN INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE AIR COOLER 221

with vs being the velocity of the secondary air stream. Substituting Eqs. (7-12) into (6), and neglecting
second-order differentials, we obtain
dT, es(Tw)-e,(T.,) dW h,(T~, - T,)
- - - + dy (13)
dz cp dz fa, c p

Finally we analyze the energy balance in the falling water film. The energy conservation in the
control volume requires that
fn d e w = rh~,dep + rhfle,(T~ ) - e s ( T w )dfn w (14)

where

ew = ct, wTw (15)

ep = cpTp (16)

Substituting Eqs.(15) and (16) into (14) and neglecting the small terms yield

dT~ dTp dT~ dW

d z = (thpCp - - ~ + f n c p - ~ z - thc
" p w T ""7"-)
a z / rhwcp, (17)

Equations (3), (11), (12), and (17) subjected to the boundary conditions:
y=O Tt,=rp, (18)
z=O T~=T,i W=Wi (19)
were solved by the finite difference method based on the following procedures:
(1) Initialize all the variables;
(2) Calculate heat transfer and mass transfer coefficients;
(3) Assume the water film temperature Tw and solve Eqs.(3), (11), (12), and (17), check the
accuracy of the iterated value of Tw;
(4) Return to step (3) and repeat the processes until convergence.

Results and Discussion

In this study, the numerical results for the indirect evaporative air cooler were obtained by
computing temperature ranging from 25 ° C to 45 ° C and relative humidity ranging from 10% to 90%.
The distributions of absolute humidity, temperatures of the primary air stream will be first presented. The
effects of the various parameters such as the primary air inlet temperature Tp~ the primary flow velocity
v v , the mass flow ratio vs / vp, the inlet relative humidity of the secondary air 0, wettability ~ of the

plate and the channel width 8 will be then discussed.

Figure 3 shows the temperature distributions in the plate, in the primary flow, and in the secondary
flow for the case of Tpi=33°C, T~i=25°C, ~=70%, 5=5 mm, Vp=3 m/s, and vs=2.4 m/s. As shown in Figs.
3a and 3b, typically the temperature distributions in the plate are not uniform (Fig. 3a) and the
 222 X.C. Guo and T.S. Zhao Vol. 25, No. 2

temperature in the primary air stream is decreased along the primary stream flowing direction (Fig. 3b).
The air temperature distribution in the secondary flow (Fig. 3c) takes a saddle-like shape, i.e.: the air
temperature is decreased when the secondary air stream enters the channel from the bottom, reaching a
minimum value at a certain distance from the bottom, and then going up in the remainder of the channel.
This can be explained as follows: when the secondary air stream enters the channel, the evaporation of
the water film leads to a decrease of the air temperature. On other hands, as the secondary air stream
further goes downstream, the mass fraction of the water vapor in it gradually increases owing to the
evaporation of the water film into the secondary air stream. This fact can be observed from Fig. 4 which
shows that the humidity ratio increases along the flow direction of the secondary air stream. The increase
of the humidity ratio implies that the latent heat transport between the water film and the secondary air
stream becomes less significant as the moist air moves towards the exit of the channel. It should be noted
that the secondary flow is also concurrently heated by the primary air stream in the other side of the
plate. Therefore the temperature of the secondary air stream increases at a certain distance from the entry
of the channel.

.2O

"I ////
,20
,18
.16
,14
.12
/ .16
.14
.12 .12 / 2"4.5
v ,10 v .10
N .08
N

.06 ,o6
,04 .04
.02 .02 __
0.00 0. 0.00
0.0002.04.06.08.10,I2.14.16,18.20 0.0002.04.06`08.10.12.14.16.18.20 0,0002.04.06.08,10.12.14.16.18.20

y (m) y (m) y(m)

(a) (b) (c)

FIG.3
Temperature distributions: (a) in the plate; (b) in the primary air
stream; and (c) in the secondary air stream for the case of Tr,=33 °C,
Tsi=25 °C, @=70%, ~=1, 6=5 mm, Vp=3 m]s, and v,=2.4 m/s

Figure 5 shows the variations of the cross-sectional averaged temperatures in the primary,
secondary and plate along the flow directions for the case of Tpi=33 °C, Tsi=25 °C, ~=70%, 5=5 rnm, vp=3
m/s, and vs=2.4 rn/s. It is evident that the averaged temperatures of the primary air stream (represented by
the dashed line), the plate (represented by the center line) decrease with the flow directions, but the
secondary air stream (represented by the solid line) decreases with the flow directions in some extent and
then increases because of the heat transfer from the primary air stream.
 Vol. 25, No. 2 STUDY OF AN INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE AIR COOLER 223

.20 secondary air flow z (m)

.18 0.20 0.15 0.10 0.05 0
35
.16

.12
25
g ,o 9 30
S ~
.08 ~ 24

.04 ~"~. _ ..~. " ~ . , , . , Y ' ~ .~.. 23

.02 ~
0.00 20 22
0.00 .02 .04 .06 .08 .10 .12 .14 .16 .18 .20
0 0.05 0.I0 0.15 0.20
y (m) y (m) primary air flow
FIG.4 FIG.5
Humidity ratio distribution of the Variations of the cross-sectional
secondary air stream at Tpi=33C, Tsi= averaged temperature of the primary,
25C, ~=70%, b=5mm, vp=3m/s, secondary air, and plate along the flow
and vs=2.4m/s directions at Tpi=33C, Tsi=25C, ~=70%,
~=1, gr=5mm,vp=3m/s, and vs=2.4m/s

In practical applications the heat transfer effectiveness e and the outlet temperature of the primary
air stream T~ of the indirect evaporative cooler is of interest. In the following, we will present the effects

0.97 t 27 0.95 24.0

0.93 26 23.5
"~ 0.90 ' \ k \ \
[-.
25
,...,
.k
[...,
[-., 0.89 23.0
r,..) ?
24 ~ ~ 0.85
8.
- 0.85 22.5
23 [""
T
~0
0.80
0.81 22.0
22

0.77 21 0.75 21.5

25 30 35 40 45 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5

Tpi (°C) v~ (m/s)

FIG.6
Effect of the inlet temperature of
the primary air stream on the heat transfer
effectiveness of the cooler at Tsi=25 °C,
=70%, ~=1, 8=5 mm and vs=2.4 m/s
FIG.7
Effect of the inlet velocity of the
primary air stream on the heat transfer
effectiveness of the cooler at Tpi=33 °C,
Tsi=25 °C, ~=70%, ~1/=1, ~i=5mm, v,=O.8v r,

of the various parameters on the effectiveness and the outlet temperature of the primary air stream. The
effect of the inlet temperature of the primary air stream Tpi ranging from 25 to 44 °C is shown in Fig. 6. It
 224 X.C. Guo and T.S. Zhao Vol. 25, No. 2

indicates that with the increase of Tp,, the heat transfer effectiveness ~: of the cooler decreases but the
average outlet temperature of the primary air stream increases.

The effect of the primary air stream velocity on the effectiveness of the cooler is presented in Fig.
7, which indicates that a higher primary air stream velocity result in a lower heat transfer effectiveness of
the cooler. This is because the temperature drop along the flow direction is reduced with the increase of
the flow velocity for a given channel.
1.0 • . . . . . . . 25 0.9 28

f
J J r / I t ~ 24
//
0.9 0.7 26
£:
i

k
[..._,
C)
23
[-, =,

E.-, 0.8 0.5 24

"d Y
r.O III// 22
¢0

I 21
0.7 0.3 22
0.50 0.75 1.00 1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

V2/Vl
FIG.8
Effect of the inlet velocity of the
secondary air stream on the heat transfer
effectiveness of the cooler at Tp~=33 °C,
T~i=25 °C, ¢=70%, ~=1, 8---5 mm
v(%)
FIG.9
Effect of the wettability of the
plate on the heat transfer effectiveness
of the cooler at Tpi=33 °C, T=i=25 °C,
¢=70%, 8=5 mm, vp=3 m/s, vs=2.4 m/s

The effect of the velocity ratio of the secondary to the primary air stream is illustrated in Fig. 8. It
can been seen that the effectiveness increases with the increase of the secondary air stream velocity
because both heat and mass transfer are augmented by the higher air stream velocity in the channel.

In the present study, the effect of the wettability of the plate on the heat transfer effectiveness of
the cooler is also investigated. As shown in Fig. 9, the thermal performance of the cooler can be much

improved with the increase of the wettability of the plate. When W=0.4, ~=0.83, when W=I, the

theoretical effectiveness only increases 6%, s=0.88.

Another important parameter which affects the performance of the indirect evaporative cooler is
the channel width 8. Figure 10 displays the effect of the channel width ranging from 2 to 10 mm. It is
observed that a larger heat transfer effectiveness can be achieved with a smaller channel width. However,
it should be pointed out, a small channel width may cause an increase of the pressure drop in the channel.
Therefore the design of the channel width should be optimized by concurrently considering a higher heat
transfer effectiveness and a lower fan loss.
 Vol. 25, No. 2 STUDY OF AN INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE AIR COOLER 225

1.0 26 27

25
.-, 0.9 25
.1_ 23
f.~ 0.8 24
o o
21
[--,
0.7 23
E- 19

~o 0.6 22 17

0.5 21 15 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15 30 45 60
"
75 90
0.002 0.004 0.006 0.008 0.010
(m)
FIG. 10 FIG. 11
Effect of the flow channel width Effect of the inlet relative humidity
on the heat transfer effectiveness of the of the secondary air stream on the outlet
cooler at Tpi=33 °C, Tsi=25 °C, ~=70%, temperature of the primary air at Tpi=33 °C,
~/=1, vp=3 m/s, and vs=2.4 m/s Ta=25 °C, xg=l, ~ 5 ram, vp=3 m/s, v~=2.4 m/s

The inlet relative humidity of the secondary air stream also has a significant effect on the
performance of the cooler. As illustrated in Fig. 11, a lower inlet relative humidity of the secondary air
stream results in a lower temperature at the outlet of the primary air stream. For this reason the indirect
evaporative cooler can be directly applied in an air conditioning system in some acrid areas.

Conclusions

A numerical analysis has been carried out to investigate the heat and mass transfer characteristics
of a cross-flow multi-channel indirect evaporative cooler. A wide variety of parameters that affect the
thermal performance of the cooler have been examined. The results shows that a smaller channel width, a
lower inlet relative humidity of the secondary air stream, a higher wettability of the plate, and a higher
velocity ratio of the secondary air to the primary air stream yield a higher effectiveness of the indirect
evaporative air cooler. These findings are of significance for the design of an indirect evaporative air
cooler.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Hong Kong University of Science & Technology Grant under
Contract No. DAG95/96 .EG 13.
 226 X.C. Guo and T.S. Zhao Vol. 25, No. 2

References

1. I.L. Maclaine-Cross and P. J. Banks, J. Heat Transfer 103, 579 (1981).

2. C.F. Kettleborough and C. S. Hsieh, J. Heat Transfer 105,366 (1983).
3. C.F. Kettleborough, proceedings of the ASME/JSME Thermal Engineering Conference, 1985-
1992 (1987).
4. C. F. Kettleborough, D. G. Waugaman and M. Johnson, Trans. ASME J. Energy Resources
Technology 114, 181 (1992).
5. A.T. Wassel and A.F. Mills, Trans. ASME J. Heat Transfer 109, 784 (1987).
6. S. T. Hsu and Z. Lavan, Energy 14, 757 (1989).
7. P. J. Erens and A. A. Dreyer, Int. J. Heat Mass Transfer 36, 17 (1993).
8. Y. L. Tsay, Int. J. Heat and Fluid Flow 15, 149 (1994).
9. D. Pescod, Australian Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating, 22, No.9, 22 (1968).

Received September 19, 1997