Pottery Evaporative Cooling System: A Novel Approach to Cool Inlet Air With Minimal Change in Relative Humidity and Low Water Consumption

Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the feasibility and potential of using a novel pottery evaporative cooling system. The suggested novel system will be utilized to reduce inlet air temperature in industrial air-conditioning systems, and this reduction will be associated with low water consumption and minimal change in relative humidity. An experimental investigation tested two different unglazed pottery arrangements, aligned and staggered, under dry and wet conditions. The experimental tests were performed using a wind tunnel with an inlet air temperature of 40°C–48°C to simulate the hot summer climate in Kuwait, and different airflow rates from 300 to 1,300 m3/h were used. The average air temperature drop, relative humidity, and pressure drop parameters across the potteries were measured, in addition to water consumption. Tests were performed under dry and wet pottery conditions, and the gap between the potteries were varied during the experimental tests (1, 3, and 5 cm). Results showed that for all arrangements, the staggered case demonstrated a higher air temperature drop compared to the aligned one. For the staggered case at 300 m3/h, the air temperature dropped 6.5°C (5-cm gap) and 11°C (1-cm gap), whereas ata high airflow rate, both aligned and staggered arrangements showed an air temperature drop of 4°C. Results also showed that at the 1-cm gap dry case, a much larger pressure drop is noticed compared to the wet case; as the gap increased, pressure drop became nearly the same for wet and dry conditions. Results also showed that relative humidity increases across the potteries, in the range of 2 to 5%, and tends to be almost constant as airflow rate increases.