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Building’s evaporative air-cooling by means of heat pipes and porous ceramic

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 SET
2017
BOLOGNA

Building’s evaporative air-cooling by means of heat

pipes and porous ceramic tubes

Omar E AMER1,*, Rabah BOUKHANOUF2, Elamin MOHAMED3, Hatem IBRAHIM4, Sultan

ALFRAIDI5
1
University of Nottingham, Department of Built Environment, Nottingham, UK, Omar.Amer@nottingham.ac.uk
2
University of Nottingham, Department of Built Environment, Nottingham, UK,
rabah.boukhanouf@nottingham.ac.uk
3
University of Nottingham, Department of Built Environment, Nottingham, UK,
amin_eissawi@alumni.nottingham.ac.uk
4
Qatar University, Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Doha, Qatar, hatem_ibrahim@qu.edu.qa
5
University of Nottingham, Department of Built Environment, Nottingham, UK, Sultan.Alfraidi@nottingham.ac.uk
*
University of Misurata, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Misurata ,Libya, oamar988@gmail.com

Abstract: Using heat pipes as heat transfer elements, and porous ceramic tubes as water saturated media
material integrated into regenerative indirect evaporative cooler (R-IEC) can sufficiently decrease air temperature
with considerable minimum water consumption rates for evaporative cooling applications in buildings. As the
performance of evaporative coolers is dependent upon the type, structure and flow scheme of the heat and mass
exchanger, this paper presents new heat-mass exchanger design of a sub-wet bulb temperature indirect
evaporative cooler for air conditioning in buildings. This regenerative indirect evaporative cooler is based on heat
pipe heat exchanger and porous ceramic tubes where the heat pipes and the ceramic tubes straddle vertically
across two adjacent air ducts to form a wet and dry channel. The upper passage is the heat sink of the cooling
system in which the condensers of the heat pipes are embedded inside water-filled porous ceramic tubes, so
called the wet-air channel. While, the finned evaporators of the heat pipes are positioned in the lower passage
where the intake air flows through to be cooled down without increasing its moisture content. 1-D numerical
model was developed to investigate the thermal performance of the system, the simulation is based on the
principles of heat and mass transfer and coded using MATLAP software. Theoretically, it was found that under
o
climatic conditions of 30-45 C air temperature and 20-35% relative humidity the cooler wet bulb effectiveness
ranged from 0.71 to 1.11, while the COP spanned from 6 to 17.Equally, the water consumption rates of the
system varied from 0.974 to 1.657 l/kWh of the cooler cooling capacity.

Keywords: Heat pipe, porous ceramic tube, evaporative cooling, sub wet-bulb temperature indirect cooler
16th International Conference on Sustainable Energy Technologies – SET 2017
17th - 20th of July 2017, Bologna, IT

1. INTRODUCTION

As an efficient, effective and highly conductive heat transfer element, heat pipe can be utilized to save energy and
reduce environmental impact in many field including building air cooling. Owning to its characteristics of not having any
moving parts, passive operation, and steady performance, heat pipe has been used for various cooling applications with
robust and reliable performance such as direct and indirect dry cooling tower, thermal energy storage, electronics
cooling, data centre cooling, and HAVC systems (Shabgard et al., 2015). Yet, less attention was given to the heat pipes
application in indirect evaporative cooling for buildings air-conditioning. While, they are widely integrated and applied in
HVAC, heat recovery of air-conditioners, and air ventilation systems (Amer et al., 2015).

Evaporative cooling (EC) has proved to be immensely less power-consuming and, therefore, environmentally friendly
cooling system comparing with other cooling cycles, this resulted from using water as refrigerant and reduced electricity
demand to operate (Amer et al., 2015). The current EC research area of interest is focused on the development and of
the sub wet-bulb temperature indirect evaporative cooler (sub WBT-IEC). Principally, its working principle is based on
pre-cooling the secondary air stream by fractioning part of the cooled primary air into the wet passage instead of using
ambient primary air as used in traditional indirect evaporative cooling systems (IEC), as presented in Figure 1-a. Thus,
the sub WBT-IEC is able to cool air below wet-bulb temperature of the intake air. While, structurally it is built from plate-
type heat exchanger which consists of multi-perforated flat-plate sheets staked together to form pairs of adjacent dry-
and wet-air channels. Depending on the positioning of the hole, two main flow configurations are defined; the M-cycle
based IEC (M-IEC) and the regenerative IEC (R-IEC), as shown in Figure 1-b and –c (Boukhanouf et al., 2015).

Figure 1 Different flow schemes of IEC systems

From the literature, most recent studies were based on plate-type HMX of either the M-cycle or the regenerative flow
configuration (Amer et al., 2015). Furthermore, another review study of evaporative coolers covered the theory, working
principles, and type of heat exchanger employed of various evaporative coolers i.e. direct evaporative coolers (DEC),
wet-bulb temperature indirect evaporative cooler (WBT-IEC), M-IEC, and R-IEC systems. It was found that about 80% of
the reviewed IEC systems were constructed from plate-type HMX (Porumb et al., 2016). For such designs, it seems the
research reached saturation point in terms of structure and geometry optimisation, and performance investigation. For
example, several recent studies concluded to similar results regarding with heat exchanger dimensions and
performance, like (Zhan et al., 2011), (Cui et al., 2014), (Jradi and Riffat, 2014), (Lin et al., 2016), and (Duan et al.,
2016) suggested almost the same specifications of plate-type HMX with close performance results. Most of these
studies recommended that channels height should be ≤5 mm, channel length is around 1m, inlet air velocity is 1-1.5 m/s,
and secondary-to-primary-air flow rate ratio is between 33%-50%. In contrast, a few studies have focused on heat pipe
applications for building evaporative air-cooling. For example, Riffat and Zhu introduced heat pipe heat exchanger
(HPHX) based IEC which comprises of a bundle of heat pipes horizontally placed across two adjacent air passages.
Each heat pipe condenser is embedded in water filled ceramic container acting as heat sink, while finned heat pipe
evaporator is located in the hot air side, as shown in Figure 2-a. An experimental investigation was carried out by to
evaluate the effect of porosity, wall thickness, and outside diameter of the ceramic container on the cooler performance.
It was found that the performance declined as the wall thickness and the diameter of the ceramic container increased,
while performance improved as the ceramic porosity rose (Riffat and Zhu, 2003). But, the system size and water
consumption were large. In another study (Riffat and Zhu, 2004) numerically analysed the performance of building-
integrated HPHX based IEC of (Riffat and Zhu, 2003). Additionally, similar work to that of (Riffat and Zhu, 2004) carried
out apart from using different heat removal method for the heat pipe condenser. Water spraying system was used to wet
the condenser surface which was covered with a thin layer of water-absorbent material, as presented in Figure 2-b. The
WB effectiveness was around 0.70 (Huang et al., 2010). Furthermore, two different heat removal mechanisms of a
HPHX based IEC were investigated by (X.J. Wang, 2006). First method employed water sprayers to directly wet plain
condenser surface while ambient air passes over it, see Figure 2-c. The second technique, a DEC was used to pre-cool
ambient air before flowing over the condenser, as shown in Figure 2-d. It was found the second method performed
better than the first. Yet, both techniques demand continues water circulation, and the latter method involves higher
initial and operational costs. Also, Alharbi (Alharbi, 2014) introduced HPHX based IEC in which the exchanger
comprises of two adjacent channels with a common and impermeable plate, where heat pipes are vertically positioned
across both passages, as presented in Figure 2-f. In the upper channel, the condensers are immersed in water-filled
rectangular, ceramic panels for heat removal, while secondary air, branched from cooled primary air stream, flows over
the water-soaked panels. Whereas, the primary air is cooled down as it passes over the finned evaporators in the
bottom channel. Overall, a proper design of the heat removal mechanism of the heat pipe condenser (HPC) is vital to

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17th - 20th of July 2017, Bologna, IT

achieve high heat transfer rates, hence reduce water consumption and system size are important as well, which in turn
improve the overall performance of the cooler.

In this paper, a new configuration of heat pipe heat exchanger (HPHX) incorporating ceramic tubes for building air-
conditioning applications is introduced, the proposed cooler is anticipated to overcome some of high water consumption
problems associated with EC systems ((Elberling, 2006), (Duan et al., 2012)) and improve overall performance of IEC
systems by employing heat pipes as heat transfer elements, water-saturated porous ceramic tubes as wet medium, and
using the regenerative flow scheme of the indirect evaporative cooler (IEC).

Figure 2 Heat removal methods applied in HPHXs

2. SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND OPERATION

The cooler design is based on the principle of the regenerative configuration of the IEC, where a portion of the indirectly
cooled primary air is used as secondary air for water evaporation. The air flow in the cooler is arranged in two separate
air channels; dry channel and wet channel but with one inlet opening for the primary and secondary air flow streams.
Heat transfer between the airflows in the dry and wet channels is however accomplished through heat pipe that
straddles across the two channels. The evaporator of the heat pipe is finned and is located in the dry channel, whereas
the condenser is in the wet channel. Additionally, the condenser of the heat pipe is hosted in water-saturated porous
ceramic tube for heat rejection through water evaporation. The heat pipe-ceramic tube forms a single module that is
duplicated along the airflows ducts, as shown in Figure 3-a. The operation mode involves the ambient air (state 1) to be
cooled indirectly as it flows over the finned evaporators (state 2). A portion of the cooled primary air is diverted at the
end of dry channel (state 3) into the wet channel to become the secondary air and cause water evaporation from the
exposed porous ceramic tube surface, absorbing heat from it in the process and becoming saturated (state 4). The heat
pipe in this arrangement acts as heat transfer enabling device to transport heat between the two air steams. The heat
pipe contains a small quantity of a refrigerant that evaporates as it is heated up by the inlet primary air in the dry channel
and rejects heat in the condenser in the wet channels by virtue of refrigerant condensation. The water-soaked porous
ceramics allow water to siphon through its structure and form a thin film on its outer surface, as illustrated in Figure 3-b.
A direct evaporation process takes place between the secondary air and the water film causing a drop of the ceramic
surface and the bulk water temperatures and increase of the secondary air temperature and moisture content. This
process attains constant removal of heat which would otherwise accumulate in the water and ceramic due to heat
transport from the condenser surface to the surrounding water. This heat and mass transfer presses in the wet channel
is important as it creates temperature gradient between both channels that is the driving force of the heat pipe operation.

Figure 3 Main components, working principle and flow arrangement of the HPHX and porous ceramic cooler

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3. THERMAL DESIGN AND MODEL

3.1. Mathematical Model

In this cooler, as the hot ambient air comes in contact with the finned evaporator in the dry channel, this yields air
sensible heat to be transferred through heat pipes as the air flows along the dry channel at constant moisture content,
while the secondary air flow temperature and moisture content change along the wet channel and emerge at saturation
conditions at the wet-air channel outlet. This heat transfer mechanism involves sensible and latent heat exchange
between the airflow and the water film on the porous ceramics. The physical model of the system is divided into “n”
differential elements across both the dry- and wet-air channels i.e. heat pipe-ceramic tube module is considered as a
th
homogeneous control volumes as shown in Figure 4-a. By considering the “n ” heat pipe as presented in Figure 4-b,
and applying energy and mass conservation lows, a set of differential governing equations are formulated as follows
(Halasz, 1998), (Boukhanouf et al., 2017).

Figure 4 Schematic of the mathematical model of the system

From energy conservation law of the primary air in dry channel side yields (Halasz, 1998);

𝑚da 𝑐𝑃,da 𝑑𝑇da = − 𝑈o 𝑑𝐴 Tda − 𝑇wf (1)

where 𝑚da is the air mass flow rate in the dry channel (kg s), 𝑐𝑃,da is the specific heat of the primary air ( J kg K), A is
the heat transfer area, Tda is the average temperature of primary air in the dry channel (K), 𝑇wf is the average
temperature of water film (K), and 𝑈o is the overall heat transfer coefficient between the two air flows (𝑊 𝐾) which is
given by:

1 1
𝑈d = = (2)
𝑅1 +𝑅𝐻𝑃 +𝑅11 +𝑅12 𝑅1 +𝑅2 +𝑅3 +𝑅7 +𝑅8 +𝑅11 +𝑅12

𝑟7 −1
1 𝑙𝑛 𝑟3 𝑟2 𝑙𝑛 𝑟2 𝑟1 𝑙𝑛 𝑟2 𝑟1 𝑙𝑛 𝑟3 𝑟2 𝑙𝑛 𝑟6 𝑟3 𝑙𝑛
𝑟6
𝑈d = + + + + + +
ℎ d 𝜂 𝑜 𝐴1 2𝜋𝑙 𝑒 𝜆 𝑒 2𝜋 𝑙 𝑒 𝜆 𝑤𝑘 2𝜋𝑙 𝑐 𝜆 𝑤𝑘 2𝜋 𝑙 𝑐 𝜆 𝑐 2𝜋𝑙 𝑐 𝜆 wt 2𝜋 𝑙 𝑐𝑒 𝜆 𝑤 ,𝑐𝑒 (3)

where 𝑅1 is the convective thermal resistance of primary air in the dry channel (𝑚2 𝐾 𝑊 ), 𝑅𝐻𝑃 is the sum of heat pipe
thermal resistances (𝑚2 𝐾 𝑊 ), 𝑅11 is the thermal resistance of water (𝑚2 𝐾 𝑊 ), and 𝑅12 is the thermal resistance of
ceramic tube (𝑚2 𝐾 𝑊 ), as shown in Figure 4. In this computer model, a simplified thermal circuit resistance of the heat
pipe (RHP) was used instead of the original thermal resistance. This is given by (Lee, 2010:page 197) as follows:

1
𝑅HP = 𝑅2 + 𝑅3 + 1 1 1 + 𝑅7 + 𝑅8 ≈ 𝑅2 + 𝑅3 + 𝑅7 + 𝑅8 (4)
+ +
𝑅 4 +𝑅 5 +𝑅 6 𝑅 9 𝑅 10

Since some of the thermal resistances of the heat pipe internal components can be omitted, these are R 9 and R10
because of their large values and being connected in parallel in the thermal circuit. Also, the resistances R 4 , R 5 and R 6
1 1 1 −1
have very small values and are in series. Therefore, the value of the term + + becomes trivial.
R 4 +R 5 +R 6 R9 R 10

where R 2 is the conductive resistance of the evaporator wall m2 K W , R 3 is the conductive resistance of the
evaporator wick structure, R 4 is liquid-vapour interface resistance at the evaporator; R 5 is vapour space resistance;
R 6 is liquid-vapour interface resistance at the condenser; R 7 is the conductive resistance of the condenser wick, R 8 is
the conductive resistance of condenser wall; R 9 is axial conduction resistance of the adiabatic section wall, R10 is axial
resistance of the saturated wick structure at the adiabatic section.

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From mass conservation law in the wet-air channel side givers;

′
𝑚a 𝑑𝜔a = hm 𝑑𝐴 𝜔wf − 𝜔a (5)

From energy balance in the wet-air channel side yields;

ma dia = ha dA Twf − Ta + hm dA ω′wf − ωa iv,wf (6)

where ωa is moisture content of the secondary air kgwt kgair , ω′wf is moisture content of saturated secondary air at
water film temperature kgwt kgair , ma is the air mass flow rate in the wet channel (kg s), hm is the mass transfer
coefficient (kg m2 s), Ta is the secondary air temperature in the wet channel (K), ia is the enthalpy of secondary air
(J kg), ha is the convective heat transfer coefficient in the wet channel (W m2 K), iv,ce is the enthalpy of vapour at water
film temperature (J kg), cPa is the secondary air specific heat (J kg K), mwf is the water flow rate (kg/s).

The relationship between heat transfer and mass transfer coefficient in the wet channel is often expressed by Lewis
number (𝐿𝑒) which is expressed by Eq. (8) (Halasz, 1998). Lewis number is often in the range of 0.9 to 1.15 and to
simplify the model it was taken to be 1 (Halasz, 1998) and (Boukhanouf et al., 2017).

hm = ha 𝐿𝑒 cpa (7)

From energy balance of the water film yields;

mwf cp,wf dTwf = Uo A Td − Twf − hm dA ω′wf − ωa ifg ,wf − ha A Twf − Ta (8)

In computer modelling, the governing differential equations (1), (5), (6) and (8) were converted into a set of discrete
algebraic equations. The finite difference method with Newton iterative process were used for solution, and a computer
code using MATLAB programming language was developed for this purpose.

3.2. Limiting factors of Heat Pipe performance

Heat transfer process between both airstreams are subject to heat pipe capacity which in turn can be limited due to
several reasons. Therefore, in the dry channel side sensible heat transfer takes place between the inlet ambient air and
the finned heat pipe, which is restricted by heat transfer limitations of the heat pipe. So, the maximum heat transported
by the heat pipe (Q1 ) would be the minimum value of heat transfer limitations, it is given as follows (Lee, 2010);

Q1 = min (Qe , Qc , Qb , Qs ) (9)

Q1 = md cP,d dTd (10)

where, Q1 is maximum heat transferred by the heat pipe (W), Qe is the Entrainment limit of heat pipe heat transfer (W),
Qc is the Capillary limit (W), Qb is the Boiling limit (W), Qs Sonic limit (W).

ρv ςl
Qe = πr12 iv (11)
2 rc

ρ l i v K A wk 2ς l
Qc = − ρl glt sin φ − ρl g lt cos φ (12)
μ l l eff rc

4π l eff λ eff T v ς l 1 1
Qb = r2 − (13)
i fg ρ v ln rn rc
r1

γ v Rv Tv
Qs = Av ρv ifg (14)
2 1+γ v

where, r1 is vapour space radius of the heat pipe m , iv is latent heat vaporisation of the working liquid J kg , ςl is
working liquid surface tension N m , rc is capillary radius of wick surface pores m , ρl is liquid density kg m3 , K is
wick permeability m2 , Awk is cross-section area of wick m2 , g is gravity acceleration m s2 , lt is total length of heat
pipe m , φ is inclination angle of the heat pipe, μl is viscosity of the working fluid N. s m2 , leff is effective length of heat
pipe (m), ε is wick porosity, λeff is thermal conductivity of liquid-saturated wick W mK , Tv is the saturated vapour
temperature K , r 1 is the inner radius of heat pipe m , rn is nucleation radius (m), Av is the area of vapour space of the
heat pipe, m2 ; R v is gas constant of vapour J kg K .

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o
The limitations of heat pipe heat transfer for range of heat pipe operation temperatures of 10-100 C is presented in
Figure 5 based on the heat pipe specification presented in Table 1. It is noticed that the capillary limit is the lowest value
of the heat transfer limitations which represent the heat transfer capacity of the heat pipe. For operating temperature 20-
o
50 C, the heat pipe heat transfer rates range from 13-52 W.

1400

1200

Capillary Limit
Heat transfer capacity, (W)

1000

800 Sonic limit

600 Entrainment limit

400 Boiling limit

200

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

Operating Temperature, (oC)

Figure 5 Heat pipe heat transfer limitations

3.3. Heat Pipe and Porous Ceramic Tube Specification

In this simulation, a 15 heat pipe-ceramic modules was considered. This small-scale cooling unit is configured from an
outer shell that delimits the air flow channels, heat pipes with finned evaporator, ceramic tubes hosting the heat pipe
condenser. To make the unit compact, the heat pipes-ceramic tubes modules were arranged in series along three-row,
as illustrated in Figure 6-a. Although the idea was to investigate the potential of using heat pipes with ceramic tubes for
building air conditioning, heat pipe modelling is out of the scope of this paper. Therefore, the heat pipes were purchased
as standard components, and a capillary-driven conventional tubular heat pipe was selected which is made from copper
with two layers copper wire mesh wick structure and water as working fluid (Amer and Boukhanouf, 2016). Copper was
the chosen material for the heat pipe container and wick structure because of its compatibility with liquid water, high
thermal conductivity, and corrosion resistant. The type of heat pipe was selected based on availability, cost and material
compatibility. Tubular heat pipes are widely available in many standard sizes and are the cheapest as they are
manufactured for many applications (Shabgard et al., 2015). Table 1 summaries main properties of the heat pipe and
the porous material. Also, Figure 6- b and c shows a picture of the heat pipe and porous ceramic tubes produced by
specialist ceramic manufacturer.

Figure 6 The heat pipe-porous ceramic based R-IEC system and its main components

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Table 1 Properties of Heat pipe and porous ceramic tube

Element Parameters Symbol Value Unit
Outer diameter 𝑑3 0.0180 𝑚
Heat
pipe Inner diameter 𝑑2 0.0158 𝑚
Vapour space diameter 𝑑𝑣 0.0154 𝑚
Length of evaporator 𝑙𝑒 0.1300 𝑚
Length of condenser 𝑙𝑐 0.1550 𝑚
Length of adiabatic section 𝑙𝑎 0.0100 𝑚
Total length of heat pipe 𝑙𝑡 0.2950 𝑚
Number of wires per 1in of mesh 𝑁𝑤𝑘 250 𝑤𝑖𝑟𝑒/𝑖𝑛
Mesh wire thickness 𝑑𝑤 0.0016 𝑖𝑛
Heat pipe wick structure - 2 layers of copper screen mesh
Porous 25.68% Alumina, 66.85% silica, 4.03%
Material compositions -
ceramic Albite, and 2.81% impurities
tube Length 𝑙𝑐𝑒 0.150 m
Inner and outer diameter 𝑑6 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑7 0.024 and 0.028 m
Porosity - 17 %
Density 𝜌𝑐𝑒 2300 𝑘𝑔 𝑚3
Thermal conductivity 𝜆𝑐𝑒 1.5 𝑊 𝑚𝐾

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The computer model was used to evaluate the performance of this cooling system at varying inlet ambient conditions of
o
30, 35, 40, and 45 C with relative humidity of 20, 25, 30, 32% respectively, but at fixed operational conditions of 50%
o
secondary-to-primary air flow ratio, 15 heat pipe rows used, and 18 C water temperature. Table 2 presents the thermal
performance parameters of the proposed sub WBT cooling system at four different inlet flow rates of 60-125 m3 h.

Table 2 Thermal performance parameters of the cooling system

3
Inlet air flow rate (𝑚 ℎ) 125 100 75 60

Temperature of inlet air (℃) 30 35 40 45

Wet bulb temperature of inlet air (℃) 15.7 20.23 25.09 29.34

Relative humidity of the inlet air (%) 20% 25% 30% 32%

Supply air temperature (℃) 19.82 23.06 25.59 27.61

Wet-bulb effectiveness 0.712 0.808 0.966 1.11

Cooling capacity (W) 202.56 188.80 161.44 159.35

Coefficient of performance (COP) 6.33 9.14 13.80 17.02

Water consumption rate 𝑙/𝑘𝑊ℎ 0.974 1.126 1.399 1.657

From Table 2, the cooler wet -bulb effectiveness ranged from 0.71-1.11. Whereas, the COP ranged from 6 to 17. In
regard with water consumption rates, it was in the range of 0.785-1.557 l per 1 kW/h of cooling capacity. By comparing
with other IEC systems, the effectiveness and COP values of this cooler were in the same range as for other IEC
configurations, like that of (Jradi and Riffat, 2014) and (Bruno, 2011). While, water consumption rates were by far lower
than that of the R-IEC system of (Duan et al., 2016), and the M-IEC system of (Jradi and Riffat, 2014), this system
considerably offers savings of 28-46% in water consumption. In contrast, the cooling capacity of the system was limited
due to the small size of the simulated cooling system.

o
For further evaluation of the performance in terms of meeting the recommended indoor comfort requirements i.e. 25 C
o
and 50-60% RH (ASHRAE, 2005), several simulation runs performed for wide range of inlet air conditions of 30-45 C,
3
15-50% RH, 60-150 m h, and 15 heat pipe rows. The supply air temperature reduction of various ambient intake air
conditions were plotted on the psychrometric chart as illustrated in Figure 7, the cooler performed adequately in such
o
climatic conditions supplying air within the comfort zone for wide inlet conditions of 30-42 C and 15-30% RH. But, once
o
the ambient air conditions become hotter and moister (≥42 C and 30% RH) the cooler cooling performance did not meet
comfort zone requirement. However, some operational parameters should be optimised such as number of heat pipe
rows and inlet air flow rates to enhance the overall cooling effectiveness of the system for extreme hot weather
conditions. The effects of some these parameters on the cooler performance are presented in figure 8.

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Figure 7 Cooler performance and comfort zone

o
Figure 8-a presents the effect of varying the ambient temperature (30-45 C) on the effectiveness and COP under
3 o
constant inlet conditions of inlet air flow rate of 75 𝑚 ⁄ℎ (2.5 m/s), inlet air humidity of 35%, 50% flow ratio, and 23 C
water temperature, It was found that the effectiveness and COP of the system improved gradually as the inlet ambient
air temperature increased. Thus, they are directly proportional with the ambient inlet air temperature. This obviously
indicates to one of the advantages of the IEC systems over conventional vapour-compressed cooling systems, that, the
performance of the system increases as the ambient temperature rises. Furthermore, Figure 8-b illustrates the
relationship between the inlet air velocity (the inlet air flow rate) and the WB effectiveness and the cooling capacity.
From figure 8-b, it is shown that WB effectiveness is inversely proportional to the inlet air velocity, while the cooling
capacity is directly proportional with it. Also, it is noted that the cooling capacity of the cooler remarkably improves as the
inlet air velocity increases, this possibly because of the large rates of inlet air passing through the cooling system which
would promote the values of cooling capacity, due to a direct proportional between the cooling capacity and air flow rate.
Yet, it should be noticed that not all high values of cooling capacity would necessarily be accompanied with a sufficient
temperature drop of the inlet supply air as the cooler effectiveness and inlet air velocity are inversely proportional. For
optimum design, a compromising between the effectiveness and cooling capacity must be considered. So, it is
recommended to operate the cooler at 2 to 2.5 m/s.

1.1 18 1.1 360

1.0 16 1.0 320
0.9 0.9
14 280
Cooling Capacity, (W)
0.8 0.8
WB effectiveness

12 240
WB Effectiveness

0.7 0.7
10
COP

0.6 0.6 200

0.5 8 0.5 160
0.4 6 0.4 120
0.3 0.3
4 80
0.2 0.2
WB effectiveness 2 WB effectiveness
0.1 0.1 40
COP Cooling capacity
0.0 0 0.0 0
25 30 35 40 45 50 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Inlet air temperature (C) Inlet air velocity, (m/s)
(a) (b)
Figure 8 Effect of ambient inlet temperature and velocity on the cooler performance

5. CONCLUSION

An investigation of integrated heat pipe heat exchanger and porous ceramic material was carried out for indirect
evaporative cooling application in buildings using vertical tubular heat pipes and porous ceramic tubes. It was found that
this heat pipe and porous ceramic based indirect evaporative cooler has the potential to achieve required thermal
comfort in buildings in hot and dry climates worldwide. The numerical results mainly show the cooler WB effectiveness
was above the unity, it ranged from 0.71 to 1.1 which comparatively fall within the same performance range of other

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17th - 20th of July 2017, Bologna, IT

configurations of indirect evaporative coolers (IEC) i.e. WB effectiveness ranges 0.7-1.3. While, the water consumption
rates were lower than that of other IEC systems, this cooler water consumption ranged from 0.9-1.6 l/kWh of cooling
capacity. Though, the cooling capacity of this cooler was small i.e. from 160 to 203 W.

Regarding with meeting comfort levels recommended by ASHRAE, the cooler was able to supply air at temperatures
and humidity within the comfort zone as long as the air conditions is ≤42℃ and ≤30% RH. While for hotter ambient
conditions, the supply air temperatures were falling out of comfort zone. Therefore, it is recommend for keep inlet air
velocities around 2 (m⁄s) to maintain the cooler effectiveness above 1 and reach the comfort levels. In addition, It was
found that the cooler WB effectiveness and COP are directly proportional to the inlet air temperature. This means the
higher the inlet air temperature the grater the inlet air temperature reduction, thus the higher the cooler performance is.
While, the inlet air velocity is inversely proportional to the cooler effectiveness, and directly proportional to the cooler
cooling capacity.

Finally, the use of porous ceramic tubes and heat pipes have considerable potential for buildings evaporative cooling
applications which benefit from the large contact area and good water holding capacity of porous ceramic material which
are desirable to enable sufficient water evaporation in the wet air channel, and also ensure even and complete wetting of
the condenser surface of the heat pipe.

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