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Evaporative cooling technologies for

air-cooled chillers for building energy
performance improvement
ab b b c
F.W. Yu , K.T. Chan , J. Yang & R.K.Y. Sit
a
Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, Hong Kong
b
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
c
CSA(M&E) Ltd, 24/F Beverly House, 93-107 Lockhart Road,
Wanchai, Hong Kong
Published online: 06 May 2015.
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To cite this article: F.W. Yu, K.T. Chan, J. Yang & R.K.Y. Sit (2015): Evaporative cooling
technologies for air-cooled chillers for building energy performance improvement, Advances in
Building Energy Research, DOI: 10.1080/17512549.2015.1040070

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 Advances in Building Energy Research, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512549.2015.1040070

Evaporative cooling technologies for air-cooled chillers for building energy

performance improvement
F.W. Yua,b*, K.T. Chanb, J. Yangb and R.K.Y. Sitc
a
Hong Kong Community College, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; bDepartment of
Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong; cCSA(M&E) Ltd, 24/F
Beverly House, 93-107 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
(Received 24 November 2014; accepted 8 February 2015)
Downloaded by [New York University] at 04:44 23 June 2015

Where water conservation is concerned, central air-conditioning systems in commercial

buildings are installed with air-cooled chillers for comfort cooling. This study examines
evaporative cooling technologies for air-cooled chillers to improve their energy
performance. Two common devices for cooling air intake to condensers are evaporative
coolers and mist generators. Depending on weather conditions and packing materials,
evaporative coolers can enhance the refrigeration effect and chiller energy performance at
various degrees. Yet, different configurations and designs for air-cooled condensers call for
tailor-made design of the coolers. The coolers also impose additional flow resistance to
condenser air and, in turn, additional fan power. Mist generated in front of the condensers
brings no flow resistance to condenser air and allows the dry bulb temperature approach
closely the corresponding wet bulb temperature. The cooling effectiveness can be
maximized with lesser water consumption. The benefit of evaporative cooling for air-cooled
chillers is more appealing in future climate scenarios in a subtropical climate, considering
the higher difference between the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures. Integration of control
and optimization strategies with mist precooling has been discussed.
Keywords: air-cooled chiller; cooling effectiveness; evaporative cooler; mist generator

Introduction
The design and operation of heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems play an
important role in providing qualified indoor air quality and thermal comfort while keeping build-
ing energy consumption at acceptable levels (Avgelis & Papadopoulos, 2010). Chillers are
usually installed in HVAC systems to produce cooling energy for comfort cooling in commercial
buildings (Yang, Chan, Wu, Yang, & Zhang, 2012). The operation of chillers constitutes the major
proportion of electricity consumption in engineering systems in buildings. The energy perform-
ance of chillers is primarily dictated by heat rejection methods. Water-cooled chillers work effi-
ciently with evaporative cooling towers for heat rejection because they can operate at reduced
compressor power with lower condensing pressure. Yet, a water-cooled chiller system consumes
a considerable amount of water in the heat rejection process. A simulation analysis showed that
the annual water consumption of evaporative cooling towers was around 16,000 m3 for a chiller
system serving a hotel with a gross floor area of 17,476 m2 in a subtropical climate (Yu, Chan, &

*Corresponding author. Email: ccyufw@hkcc-polyu.edu.hk

© 2015 Taylor & Francis

 2 F.W. Yu et al.

Sit, 2013). Indeed, the designed water make up a rate of evaporative cooling towers is 0.0016 L/s
per unit cooling capacity in kW (i.e. 3% of typical condenser water flow rate per unit cooling
capacity) (Yu, Chan, Sit, & Yang, 2013).
A water-cooled chiller system is designed with more auxiliary devices such as water treatment
for evaporative cooling towers, condenser water pumps and algorithm for sequencing control of
the towers and pumps. Installing more system components calls for more sophisticated design and
operation techniques for system optimization. Where water conservation is concerned and where
a simpler system is designed, air-cooled package chillers are inevitably used within which heat is
rejected by inducing outdoor air to condenser coils. The dry bulb temperature of outdoor air and
the algorithm of controlling condensing temperature dictate the compressor power and hence the
energy performance of chillers in terms of the coefficient of performance (COP) – the cooling
capacity output in kW divided by the power input in kW. Most current chillers operate with
head pressure control under which the condensing temperature is controlled at a high set point
for all ambient conditions. This hinders the improvement of their COP at part load operation
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with lower ambient temperatures.

State-of-the-art technologies for enhancing the COP of air-cooled chillers are summarized
(Vakiloroaya, Samali, Fakhar, & Pishghadam, 2014; Welch & Chaplin, 2010). The technologies
for compressors involved using magnetic bearings and oil-free bearings with variable speed
drives. For heat exchangers, micro-channel aluminium condensers and flooded evaporators are
mentioned. Other technologies involved floating head pressure, a liquid refrigerant pump
system and an evaporative cooling system for air-cooled condensers. All these technologies are
built-in design to the chillers except the evaporative cooling system which can be an add-on
feature for existing chillers.
Evaporative cooling of air entering the condensers is not new but its application is rather
limited in existing installations. Furthermore, there is very little literature addressing the oppor-
tunity and challenge of the application. To foster more efficient operation of existing air-cooled
chillers, this study demonstrates evaporative cooling technologies for the chillers. Features of
two common technologies will be described. The opportunities and challenges of applying the
technologies will be discussed. The significances of this study are to illustrate more design and
operating criteria to nurture their applications, and to identify potential integration with
optimal control of air-cooled chillers. This study is related to a series of research work by
authors on the sustainable design and operation of air-cooled chiller systems and the simulation
of improved energy performance of air-cooled chillers with mist precooling (Yang, Chan, Wu, Yu,
& Yang, 2012; Yu & Chan, 2005, 2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2010, 2011; Yu,
Chan, & Sit, 2013; Yu, Chan, Sit, & Yang, 2013; Yu, Chan, Yang, & Sit, 2015).

Common evaporative cooling technologies

Vakiloroaya et al. (2014) summarize two common devices placed in front of air-cooled condensers to
cool evaporatively ambient air from the dry bulb temperature down to the wet bulb temperature. One
is the evaporative cooler which contains a cassette with packing materials to provide saturated sur-
faces and allows condenser air to evaporate the moisture and hence to reduce its dry bulb temperature.
Another is a mist generator which produces a cloud of mist for condenser air to evaporate directly. The
following section will describe in detail the arrangement and operation of the two technologies.

Evaporative coolers
To provide saturated surfaces on packing materials, an evaporative cooler may incorporate a once-
through water system in which a variable speed pump is used to deliver water spray on the
 Advances in Building Energy Research 3

materials via spray nozzles (Welch & Chaplin, 2010). The water is disinfected by a UV filter
before discharging as spray. This once-through system can avoid generation of surplus spray.
Another type of water system may produce water films on the materials by spraying water
continuously on top of the materials and collect surplus water at the bottom for recirculation.
Figures 1 and 2 show a typical arrangement of an evaporative cooler placed in front of an air-
cooled condenser and its internal construction with corrugated perforated aluminium foil as the
packing material. The amount of water consumed accounts for less than 15% of the cooling
water consumed by evaporative cooling towers (Bom, Foster, & Dijkstra, 1999).
The cooler would introduce flow resistance when the air stream passes through it. This causes
additional power of condenser fans and may decrease the heat rejection airflow rate at a full load
condition, though a temperature drop of the air stream may help enhance the heat rejection
capacity. Several previous studies analysed the potential benefits of using evaporative coolers.
In Zhang, You, Yang, and Niu’s (2000) experimental work, the evaporative cooler has corrugated
perforated aluminium foils as the packing material. The results identified a cooling effectiveness
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(hdc ) of about 0.8 and the air flow resistance is below 200 Pa when the face velocity is less than 3
m/s. ηdc is commonly used to analyze the performance of an evaporative cooler and is defined as
(tdb − t1c )/(tdb − twb ), where tdb and t1c are temperatures of air entering and leaving the cooler,
respectively, and twb is the wet bulb temperature of air entering the cooler. The hdc is equal to
one if t1c can drop to twb – the theoretical lowest level. Given a ηdc of 0.8, the dry bulb temperature
could decrease by 1.6–8°C for a difference of 2–10°C between the dry bulb and wet bulb temp-
eratures under a warm–humid climate. Zhang et al. developed an empirical equation expressing
hdc as a function of face velocity of air stream and the spray generation rate in kg/s per unit face
area. For maximum hdc , the face velocity might vary at 2–2.8 m/s and the spray generation rate
might range from 0.5 to 1.2 kg/s per unit face area. This suggests that head pressure control influ-
ences the optimum cooling effectiveness of evaporative coolers because the face velocity depends
on the heat rejection airflow rate. The use of evaporative coolers could increase the COP of air-
cooled chillers by 39% when operating in the hot-arid region of China.
Hajidavalloo and Eghtedari (2010) conducted an experiment on how an evaporative cooler
helped improve the COP of a split-type air conditioner. Cellulous pads were used as the packing

Figure 1. An air-cooled condenser with an evaporative cooler.

 4 F.W. Yu et al.
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Figure 2. Packing material made of corrugated perforated aluminium foil.

material. The results showed that the cooler increased the refrigeration effect by 6.1–13.3% and the
COP rose by 31.7–50.6% for an outdoor dry bulb temperature of 35–49°C. The increase of COP was
more significant when the outdoor temperature was higher. Yet, they did not report the cooling effec-
tiveness of the cellulous cooler. Simulation work by Yu and Chan (2005) ascertained that there was a
1.4–14.4% decrease in chiller power and a 1.3–4.6% increase in the refrigeration effect when an eva-
porative cooler was coupled with an air-cooled reciprocating chiller operating under head pressure
control in a warm and humid climate. If floating head pressure was implemented instead of head
pressure control, the chiller power could further reduce by 1.3–4.3% at part load operation. There
was room for a COP improvement by applying evaporative coolers even in a warm and humid
climate. Hao et al. (2013) investigated different thicknesses of packing material and identified an
optimum thickness for a given face velocity to achieve the highest energy saving. Given climatic
conditions in China, the maximum percentage energy saving is 2.4–14.0% for air-cooled chillers
operating with evaporative coolers. According to experimental work by Sheng and Nnanna
(2012), the cooling effectiveness of evaporative coolers could be enhanced with a lower face vel-
ocity, a higher air inlet temperature and a lower water spray temperature.
Overall, using evaporative coolers for air-cooled chillers can enhance the refrigeration effect
and COP even in a hot and humid climate. Yet, different configurations and designs for air-cooled
condensers call for tailor-made design of the evaporative coolers. Additional space and structural
support may be required for installing an evaporative cooler with bulky packing materials. It
remains to be ascertained the change of cooling effectiveness if optimal control of condensing
temperature takes place. Some low static condenser fans may not be able to handle the additional
flow resistance caused by the coolers. All these limit its application to existing chillers.

Mist generators
To avoid potential flow resistance introduced by saturated surfaces of evaporative coolers, eva-
porative cooling of condenser air can be done directly by providing mist. Figure 3 shows an
 Advances in Building Energy Research 5
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Figure 3. A mist system installed in front of the condenser of an air-cooled chiller (Yu & Chan, 2011).

example of installing a mist system in front of the condenser of an air-cooled chiller. It occupies
limited space and can be installed easily with existing chillers. The components of a mist genera-
tor are given in Figure 4. The generator contains a high pressure pump to raise the water at around
70 bar at atomization nozzles which discharge a cloud of mist of 10–50 μm droplet size. When the
ambient air fully vaporizes the mist in an adequate amount, it is cooled down from the dry bulb to
the wet bulb temperature.

Figure 4. Components of a mist system (Yu & Chan, 2011).

 6 F.W. Yu et al.

According to a field investigation on an air-cooled chiller with mist precooling by Yang et al.
(2012), the power of a high pressure pump accounted for about 8% of the total condenser fan
power. Under the designed outdoor conditions, the water consumption rate for mist generation
accounted for about 12.5% of that required by water-cooled chillers with evaporative cooling
towers. Using a validated thermodynamic model, Yang et al. found that the COP of the chiller
increased by up to 21.3% under head pressure control and further by up to 51.5% under floating
head pressure control with the cooling effectiveness of one. There was a 14.1% reduction of the
overall electricity consumption of a chiller system operating with a mist system and optimum
control of condensing temperature under a subtropical climate. Tissot et al. (2014) examined
how different mist generation rates influenced the COP of an air conditioner at different combi-
nations of dry bulb temperatures and relative humidity. A higher mist generation rate with lower
relative humidity brought a greater improvement in the refrigeration effect and hence the COP.
Table 1 shows a comparison on the characteristics of the evaporative cooling technologies.
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Opportunities and challenges of mist precooling of condenser air

While many state-of-the-art technologies on system components prompt the improvement of
chiller COP, most of them are built-in devices which cannot be used in existing chiller
systems. A series of experimental and simulation studies by authors (Yang, Chan, Wu, Yang,
& Zhang, 2012; Yang, Chan, Wu, Yu, & Yang, 2012; Yu & Chan, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010,
2011; Yu, Chan, & Sit, 2013; Yu, Chan, Sit, & Yang, 2013; Yu, Chan, Yang, & Sit, 2015)
have confirmed that mist precooling of condenser air brings benefits of energy savings and sus-
tainable use of water, with regard to chillers operating in a warm and humid climate. The benefits
would be more appealing for chillers operating in a hot-arid climate. It is economically viable to
install a mist system for existing and new air-cooled chiller installations because its initial cost
accounts for about 8–15% of the initial cost of installing one chiller unit and the simple
payback period could be within a year.
The actual benefit of mist precooling of condenser air depends on the temperature depression
– the difference between the dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures. Figure 5 shows frequency poly-
gons of the temperature depression for 8760 hourly data for the typical meteorological year of
Hong Kong and the predicted weather scenarios in 2020, 2050 and 2080 under climate
change. Details of generating future weather data are given in Yu, Chan, Sit, and Yang (2013).
The percentage frequency tends to increase at higher temperature depressions in the future
years, suggesting that energy savings by mist precooling would increase progressively throughout
the functional life of a chiller system.
One simple operation of a mist system is to interlock with the operation of refrigeration cir-
cuits of chillers. The mist is delivered at the maximum level determined based on the nominal heat
rejection airflow rate and summer designed outdoor conditions. Yet, for most operating con-
ditions, the heat rejection airflow and the temperature depression are not at their maximum
levels. The amount of condenser air at off-design conditions would be insufficient to evaporate
all the mist generated at the design level and the excessive mist could be carried over the conden-
ser fans and coil. More research and survey are required to ascertain if a persistent damp environ-
ment would accelerate scaling and corrosion problems on the condenser fans and coils. On the
other hand, the casual cooling effect from wetting the condenser fans and coil and the associated
enhancement of heat rejection capacity are yet to be examined. It remains to be investigated if
operation and maintenance practice needs to be fine-tuned to maintain the heat transfer effective-
ness of air-cooled condensers with mist precooling.
An even distribution of mist around air-cooled condensers with complete evaporation is a
critical factor to achieve the highest cooling effectiveness. Further analysis on this is required
 Advances in Building Energy Research 7

Table 1. Comparison of evaporative cooling technologies for air-cooled chillers.

Type Evaporative cooler
Principle • It is a device of providing saturated
surfaces at the packing materials
• Air evaporates moisture on saturated
surfaces to cool to its wet bulb
Advantages • Saturated surfaces can cover the whole •
condenser coils to ensure better cooling
effectiveness
• No wetting carrying on condenser coils
would occur
Disadvantages • A mounting frame may be required for •
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Mist generator
• It is a device of discharging mist from
nozzles and pipework by a high
pressure pump
• Air evaporates mist directly to cool to
its wet bulb
It can be retrofitted with any existing
chillers
• Nozzles and pipework can be adjusted
freely with limited use of space
• The operation of the high pressure
pump can be simply interlocked with
the operating chillers
Effect of mist dispersion throughout

installing the cooler the condenser coils may be affected by

• Tailor-made design may be required for
specific condenser configuration
• Condenser fans of the high static type •
may be required to overcome the flow
resistance of the cooler
Projected • COP increased by 39% under hot-arid •
improvement region of China (Zhang et al., 2000)
• Refrigeration effect increased by 6.1– •
13.3% and COP rose by 31.7–50.6%
(Yu & Chan, 2005)
• Energy was saved by 2.4–14.0% (Hao
et al., 2013)
wind speed and the heat rejection
airflow rate
Excessive mist may carry on
condenser coils and accelerate scaling
problems
COP increased by up to 21.3% or
51.5% (Yang et al., 2012)
Electricity was saved by 14.1% (Yang
et al., 2012)

in order to develop an optimum strategy for designing nozzle layout and size for different con-
figurations of the condensers. Some issues had been addressed by Tissot et al. (2014) and
Tissot, Boulet, Trinquet, Fournaison, and Macchi-Tejeda (2011) on their numerical analysis on
air cooling by evaporating droplets in the upward flow of a condenser. The size of mist droplets
affected the cooling effect in a complex manner. Small droplets of 25 μm had a poorer cooling
effect over a wide area due to their concentration at a core, while larger droplets had larger dis-
persion ability to cool a wide area effectively. Counter-flow injection of mist to air stream was
expected to enhance cooling effectiveness. Their analysis did investigate the effect of droplet dis-
charge velocity but did not touch on how the velocity of air stream affects the temperature and
humidity balances under evaporative cooling. More experimental and simulation works are
required to consolidate best practice on the design and operation of mist system for air-cooled
chillers.
Considering the variation of heat rejection airflow, it is desirable to adjust the mist generation
rate to maintain the maximum cooling effectiveness while avoiding excessive mist to damp the
condenser fans and coils. To achieve this, it is important to examine if variable speed control
is applicable for operating pumps at high pressure with various low flow rates. Step control of
multiple pumps may be an alternative to regulate the mist generation rate. Another important
issue is to identify an algorithm to control the mist generation rate in response to various combi-
nations of ambient conditions and heat rejection airflow rates. It is necessary to explore any direct
or indirect indicator to judge whether the maximum cooling effectiveness is achieved or not.
While the mist generation rate is adjusted, a smooth change of the reduced temperature of con-
denser air should be ensured. This is because any fluctuation in the condenser air temperature
 8 F.W. Yu et al.
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Figure 5. Frequency polygons of temperature depression in different years.

would affect the operation of condenser fans to maintain a given set point of condensing temp-
erature. A previous study by Yu and Chan, 2009, 2010, 2011) indicated that near-optimum
control of the mist system can be achieved simply by interlocking the operation of the chillers
under head pressure control with a constant mist generation rate. Yet, to achieve the highest
improvement of the chiller COP, floating head pressure control should be implemented under
which the set point of condensing temperature is adjusted based on the load and ambient con-
ditions to minimize the total of compressor power and condenser fan power (Yu & Chan,
2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2008a, 2008b, 2009, 2010, 2011; Yang et al., 2012). In many operating con-
ditions, the heat rejection airflow rate is kept high to maintain the condensing temperature at a low
set point.
To further enhance the chiller COP, it is important to develop integrated control over the mist
generation rate and condensing temperature. The heat rejection airflow rate under head pressure
control tends to be kept low when the chiller load drops with a low ambient temperature. Yet,
under floating head pressure control, the maximum heat rejection airflow is generally required
even at a low chiller load and ambient temperature. This will favour the mist evaporation
process to achieve the maximum cooling effectiveness. There is less potential of regulating the
mist generation rate from time to time along with the maximum heat rejection airflow rate.
This will facilitate the algorithm of controlling the mist system. All the aforementioned issues
need to be examined further by experimental and simulation means.

Conclusions
This study examines two common evaporative cooling technologies for air-cooled chillers to
improve their energy performance. One is an evaporative cooler which contains a cassette with
packing material to provide saturated surfaces for evaporative cooling to take place, while
another is a mist generator which produces mist for direct evaporation. Previous studies have con-
firmed that using evaporative coolers can enhance the refrigeration effect and COP of air-cooled
chillers operating in a warm and humid climate. Yet, the tailor-made design of evaporative
coolers, their additional flow resistance and installation requirement limit their application.
 Advances in Building Energy Research 9

It is more favourable to use mist for evaporative cooling because the mist produced has lesser
water consumption and does not bear flow resistance. The installation of a mist system is simpler
and more flexible. To implement successfully mist precooling of condenser air, it is important to
develop an algorithm to control the mist generation rate in response to changes of heat rejection
airflow rate and ambient conditions. The algorithm should complement with floating head
pressure control to achieve an ultimate COP enhancement under various operating conditions.
Conventional built-in control of existing air-cooled chillers would impose a technical barrier
to exploit optimal control with integration of mist system. Experimental testing on an existing
chiller with an open control algorithm and a mist system will be carried out by authors to
further examine the interaction among the mist generation rate, the set point of condensing temp-
erature and the staging of condenser fans in various operating conditions. Different nozzle sizes
and layouts will be considered to identify criteria for designing a mist system with maximum
cooling effectiveness. Experimental results will support numerical analysis to develop an
optimal algorithm to implement floating head pressure control coupled with mist precooling.
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The significance of this study is to provide insights on widening the application of mist precooling
for air-cooled chillers to enhance their sustainability in terms of improved energy performance
and limited water usage.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
The work described in this paper was supported by a grant from the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region [Project A/C Code: B-Q31R] and a grant from the College of Professional
and Continuing Education, an affiliate of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [Project A/C 4.8C.xx.
EZ40].

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