Performance improvement of the hybrid indirect evaporative type air cooler and HDH desalination system using shell and tube latent heat energy storage tank

Abstract

The present work aims to build an innovative hybrid system suitable for remote areas that suffer from freshwater scarcity and the continuous rise in the surrounding environment temperatures as a result of the increasing climatic changes. To achieve this goal, an innovative hybrid system for air conditioning and desalination was designed by incorporating the indirect evaporative type air cooler with a solar-assisted HDH desalination unit. In this innovative hybrid system to achieve the maximum possible production rates of freshwater that can be produced from the HDH unit, the shell and tube latent heat energy storage tank (STLHEST) was incorporated with the innovative hybrid system, in addition to the copper tubes filled with latent storage materials that were installed inside the humidifier, to extend the freshwater production time after sunset. The experimental results showed that the integration of STLHEST, as well as copper tubes filled with the latent storage materials installed inside the humidifier with the proposed innovative hybrid system, represents a very effective option that can produce freshwater with rates up to 241.7 L/day, with an improvement of 14.6% compared to the case without energy storage materials. Also, the average value of the cooling capacity of the air cooler during the test period from 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM reached 941.7 Watts. Moreover, the integration of STLHEST, in addition to the copper tubes filled with the latent storage materials with the innovative hybrid system, will improve the gain output ratio (GOR) from 3.6 to 4.12, with an improvement of 14.4%.