Performance evaluation of indirect evaporative cooler using clay pot

• Main Authors: Ramkumar, R., Ragupathy, A.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air temperature; Alignment; Clay; Evaporative cooling; Evaporators; Feasibility studies; Performance evaluation; Porosity; Pressure drop; Relative humidity
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4946132

The aim of the experimental study is to investigate the performance of indirect evaporator cooler in hot and humid regions. A novel approach is implemented in the cooler using clay pot with different position (single, double and three pots) and different orientation as aligned and staggered position for potential and feasibility study. The clay pot is the ceramic material where the water filled inside the pot and due to the property of porosity, the water comes outer surface of the pot and contact with the air passing over the pot surface and air get cooled. A test rig was designed and fabricated to collect experimental data. The clay pots were arranged in aligned and staggered position. In our study heat transfer was analysed with various air velocity of 1m/s to 5m/s. The air temperature, relative humidity, pressure drop and effectiveness were measured and the performance of the evaporative cooler was evaluated. The analysis of the data indicated that cooling effectiveness improve with decrease of air velocity at staggered position. It was shown that staggered position has the higher performance (57%) at 1 m/s air velocity comparison with aligned position values at three pots position.