8 - Innovative evaporative cooling walls

Abstract

Water evaporative cooling walls represent a very powerful technology for summer cooling of buildings and can preserve high insulation levels, which make them high-performing in cold seasons, too. This chapter reviews the state of the art and presents the most important approaches currently adopted, namely direct and indirect cooling. This description is supported by a review of some numerical models, relative to the simulation of evaporative cooling components. These models were shown to be suitable for integration within more comprehensive routines, of the kind usually adopted for whole building simulations. In addition, an example of a prototype recently tested by the authors is reported. The experimental results helped assess the extent to which cooling loads can be reduced. Comments on likely future trends, suggestions about other sources of information, and conclusions finalize this contribution.