An experimental study on the performance of air/water direct contact air conditioning system

Abstract

Direct contact air conditioning systems, in which heat and mass are transferred directly between air and water droplets, have many advantages over conventional indirect contact systems. The purpose of this research is to investigate the cooling and heating performances of direct contact air conditioning system for various inlet parameters such as air velocity, air temperature, water flow rate and water temperature. The experimental apparatus comprises a wind tunnel, water spray system, scrubber, demister, heater, refrigerator, flow and temperature controller, and data acquisition system. The inlet and outlet conditions of air and water are measured when the air contacts directly with water droplets as a counter flow in the spray section of the wind tunnel, and the heat and mass transfer rates between air and water are calculated. The droplet size of the water sprays is also measured using a Malvern Particle Analyzer. In the cooling conditions, the outlet air temperature and humidity ratio decrease as the water flow rate increases and as the water temperature, air velocity and temperature decrease. On the contrary, the outlet air temperature and humidity ratio increase in the heating conditions as the water flow rate and temperature increase and as the air velocity decreases.