Evaporative Cooling Scientific Facts

Evaporative Cooling Scientific Facts
<p align="justify">We hope that you're enjoying your visit to our Breezair web site. You may
have wondered why you haven't heard about evaporative cooling before, or whether or not
evaporative cooling is a gimmick. Simply put, evaporative cooling is not new technology and is
well grounded in scientific fact. A scientific explanation of evaporative cooling and why Breezair
coolers are better follows.<br /><br />To understand evaporative air-cooling, it is important to
know the relationship between dry air and water vapor, as well as some technical
terms.</p><ol><li><div align="justify">Dry bulb temperature (db) is the degree (not amount) of
heat measured with a regular thermometer.</div></li><li><div align="justify">Wet bulb
temperature (wb) is the degree of heat measured with a "wet sock" attached to the bulb. The
Wb is also the temperature at which water evaporates when air is blown over the wet
surface.</div></li><li><div align="justify">Relative humidity (rh) is the ratio of the amount of
water (as vapor) actually contained in the air to the maximum amount of water vapor that could
be contained at the same temperature (saturation). For example, at 50% rh, the air contains
50% of the maximum (100%) amount of moisture (water vapour) that it could contain at the
same temperature.</div></li><li><div align="justify">Adiabatic cooling is the direct evaporative
cooling process, whereby the dry bulb temperature is lowered without altering the amount of
heat in the air.</div></li><li><div align="justify">Latent Heat is the heat absorbed by the
moisture as it changes from liquid to vapor during evaporation. This heat is absorbed by the
vapor without any increase in its temperature - an important physical
phenomenon.</div></li><li><div align="justify">Media or Filter Pad or Evaporation Pad is the
screen through which air must pass to come in contact with the water.</div></li></ol><p
align="justify">Basic considerations of airflow are volume and velocity. Volume is the amount of
air (expressed in cubic feet per minute (CFM)), and velocity is the speed of air (expressed in
feet per second (FPS)).<br />The volume of air through the media affects the cooling capacity of
the Air Cooler along with the evaporation rate of the water. The volume of air also affects the
ability of the Air Cooler to reduce the temperature of a room.</p><p align="justify">The velocity
of the air through the media is an important criterion for determining efficiency. Velocity is also
important in preventing water carry-over and blow-off.<br /><br />Warm air can hold more
moisture than cold air, and therefore when air is heated without changing the moisture content,
the relative humidity drops. Conversely, when air is cooled, the relative humidity rises.<br /><br
/>In an Evaporative Air Cooler the latent heat that is absorbed by the water as it changes from
liquid to vapor is taken from both the air passing through the media and the water left in the
media - so both the air and water are cooled and their temperature falls. The water does not
concern us, but the cooled air is what we want.</p><p> </p><div style="text-align: center"><img
src="images/stories/seeley/scientific/evap_diagram_2.gif" border="0" /></div><p
align="justify">The above illustrates that when water passes over the media and air is blown
through it, water evaporates and the air is cooled so that the dry bulb temperature of the cooled
air approaches the original air wet bulb temperature.</p><p align="justify">Note that the total
amount of heat has not changed, but its nature has changed. The small amount of latent heat in
the original water vapor in the air has become larger because of an increase in the amount of
water vapor, due to evaporation.</p><h2 align="justify">CALCULATING SUPPLY AIR
TEMPERATURE</h2><p align="justify">Evaporative cooling effectiveness is the expected
reduction of air temperature based on the efficiency of the media and the air movement system.
"Wet bulb depression" (wbd) is the difference between dry bulb temperature and wet bulb
temperature for the entering (ambient) air.<br /><br />For example,<br />95�F db and 77�F wb
equals a 18�F wet bulb depression.<br />To determine the expected discharge dry bulb air
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temperature, :<br />Discharge temperature db = entering db - [efficiency x

wbd]</p><p>Note:</p><ol><li>Db = 95�F, Wb = 77�F = Relative Humidity of 44%</li><li>The
Efficiency must be provided by the manufacturer of the Air Cooler. When brand new, it may be
as high as 85% for Aspen fiber pads but reduces as the media deteriorates. A well-cleaned and
maintained media will be about 80% efficient if the machine is well designed. Many machines
operate at lower efficiencies</li></ol><h2>TEMPERATURE DROP CHART</h2><p
align="center">Ambient Relative Humidity (RH) versus Ambient Temperature (�F)</p><table
border="1" width="400" class="blacktext" align="center"><tr><td class="style2"><strong>�F
RH</strong></td><td class="style2"><strong>10%</strong></td><td
class="style2"><strong>20%</strong></td><td class="style2"><strong>30%</strong></td><td
class="style2"><strong>80%</strong></td><td
class="style2"><strong>90%</strong></td></tr><tr><td
class="style2"><strong>50</strong></td><td class="style2">36.2</td><td
class="style2">37.9</td><td class="style2">39.6</td><td class="style2">41.2</td><td
class="style2">47.2</td><td class="style2">48.7</td></tr><tr><td
class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td></tr><tr><td
class="style2">93.6</td><td><span class="style2">97.5 </span></td><td
class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td></tr><tr><td
class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td><td
class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td></tr><tr><td
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class="style2">92.8</td><td class="style2">99.9</td><td class="style2">-</td><td
class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">-</td><td
class="style2">-</td><td class="style2">�</td></tr></table><p align="justify">The figures in the
table for the corresponding ambient relative humidity and ambient temperature represent the
approximate supply air temperature based on a minimum pad saturation efficiency of 90%. The
difference between a Breezair cooler and many other types of evaporative cooler is our ability to
maintain a high saturation level and even airflow across the filter pad media, thus maintaining a
high evaporation rate and maximizing the cooling effect.<br /><br /><strong>We're putting the
science of evaporative cooling to work for you.</strong></p>
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temperature, :<br />Discharge temperature db = entering db - [efficiency x

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