Abstract
Building cooling is achieved by the extensive use of air conditioners. These mechanically driven devices provide thermal comfort by deteriorating the environment with increased energy consumption. To alleviate environmental degradation, the need for energy-efficient and eco-friendly systems for building cooling becomes essential. Evaporative cooling, a typical passive cooling technique, could meet the energy demand and global climatic issues. In conventional direct evaporative cooling, the sensible cooling of air is achieved by continuous water circulation over the cooling pad. Despite its simple operation, the problem of the pad material and water stagnation in the sump limits its usage. Moreover, the continuous pump operation increases the electrical energy consumption. In the present work, a porous material is used as the water storage medium eliminating the pump and sump. An experimental investigation is performed on the developed setup, and experiments are conducted for three different RH conditions (low, medium, and high) to assess the porous material’s ability as a cooling medium. Cooling capacity, effectiveness, and water evaporation rate are determined to evaluate the direct evaporative cooling system’s performance. The material that replaces the pump and sump is vermicompost due to its excellent water retention characteristics. There is no necessity to change material each time. However, the vermicompost is regenerated at the end of the experiment using a solar dryer. The passing of hot air over the vermicompost also avoids mould spores’ transmission, if any, present through the air. The results show that vermicompost produces an average temperature drop of 9.5°C during low RH conditions. Besides, vermicompost helps with the energy savings of 21.7% by eliminating the pump. Hence, vermicompost could be an alternate energy-efficient material to replace the pad-pump-sump of the conventional evaporative cooling system. Further, if this direct evaporative cooling system is integrated with solar-assisted drying of vermicompost, it is possible to provide a clean and sustainable indoor environment. This system could pave the way for year-round thermal management of building cooling applications with environmental safety.
Highlights
The rapid population growth has attributed to the drastic rise in energy consumption
Could be achieved with this system based on the operating velocity if the ambient air has a temperature of 30°C to 34°C and relative humidity of 45% to 60%
The relative humidity of air leaving the system is 99% for all velocities. It is inferred from the above results that an average temperature drop of 6.5°C to 9.5°C and relative humidity of 99% could be achieved with this system based on the operating velocity
Summary
The rapid population growth has attributed to the drastic rise in energy consumption. The critical factor driving energy consumption is the weather effect, which leads to an increase in cooling and heating requirements to provide thermal comfort. Air conditioners play a vital role in providing thermal comfort to the occupants of the building. The continuous operation of these devices increased greenhouse gas emissions. The rise in emissions directly related to energy demand poses a severe threat to the environment. Sustainable and energy-efficient technologies would be convincing to provide a clean and safe ecosystem. Passive cooling techniques have provided comfortable living space without any emissions. The use of renewable energy sources could reduce energy
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