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Lecture note on Evaporative cooling and Air conditioning in

Greenhouse system

Redmond Ramin Shamshiri, PhD

Jan. 7th. 2014

Different methods of direct and indirect evaporative cooling in controlled

environment plant production systems.

In the evaporative cooling method (state change of water from liquid to gas),
heat energy is absorbed from the air by the water (this energy is known as
latent heat of vaporization). Therefore, the process of evaporative cooling
increases both absolute and relative humidity and decreases air temperature.
As long as the RH of the greenhouse air is less than saturation point, air
movements by fans in an evaporative cooler transfer water molecules into the
air, causing the water in the evaporative cooling system to lose temperature
and cooled down until equilibrium is reached. At this point, the amount of heat
removed by the evaporating water will be supplied by the air. Water
evaporation in the greenhouse continues until it saturates the air. Therefore,
the potential of cooling by evaporative method depends on the RH of the air and
the efficiency of the evaporative system itself.

There are three evaporative cooling techniques used in greenhouses; fan-

and-pad systems, unit coolers (swamp coolers) and misting system. In the fan-
and-pad system, pumps circulate water through and over a porous or cellulose
pad at one end of the greenhouse. Air from outside is then pulled through the
dripping wet pads by the exhaust fans operating at the other end. A drawback of
fan-and-pad system is their high maintenance and the fact that air temperature
within the greenhouse between pad and fan is not uniform. Direct evaporative
coolers, also known as swamp coolers are packed units, consisting of a metal
case installed outside the greenhouse. The pads are made of cedar shavings or
cellulose and are continually soaked by a re-circulating water pump. A fan
draws outside air and passes through the pads at three sides and cooled air outs
through a duct at the fourth side. According to Duan et al. (2012), a properly
operated typical swamp cooler has the potential to cool air within 3°C to 4°C of
the wet-bulb temperature. These units cost less than air conditioner and
consume 60% to 80% less electricity; however, they are only practical for small
greenhouse in hot dry regions. According to the Psychrometric chart, air with
lower temperature can hold less amount of moisture. This principle of removing
moisture from air by means of reducing its temperature is the basis of
refrigeration dehumidification (air conditioners). The electricity usage for this
operating these systems are however high and makes them impractical for
commercial application in tropical greenhouses. Misting reduces plant moisture
loss and reduces leaf transpiration by reducing its temperature due to
evaporative cooling. It is categorized into low-pressure and high-pressure (fog)
misting. A serious drawback of misting is the development of disease such as
Botrytis. Several recommendations for obtaining better cooling results with
misting have been provided by Schnelle et al. (2003). In general, evaporative
cooling techniques are particularly successful in regions with RH around 60%,
where a significant temperature drop can be realized. A properly designed and
operated evaporative cooling system can most effectively reduce air
temperature by 80% to 85% of the difference between the air temperature and
the wet-bulb temperature (Giacomelli and Roberts, 1993).

Dr. Ramin Shamshiri Lecture Note 7th Jan 2014

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Advantages of evaporative cooling methods

Evaporative cooling is economical, effective, environmentally friendly,
and healthy. Evaporative cooling is economical because it Reduces chilled water
cooling requirements for fresh air, Cuts mechanical cooling costs 25% to 65%,
Increases existing equipment cooling capacities without adding mechanical
cooling, Increases compressor life and Increases heat exchanger life.
Evaporative cooling actually becomes more effective as the temperature
increases—just when air conditioning becomes less effective. Moreover,
because evaporative cooling does not use chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), it does
not contribute to ozone depletion. Evaporative cooling is healthy and
comfortable because it brings in outside air and exhausts stale air, smoke,
odors, and germs. It helps maintain natural humidity levels, which benefits both
people and furniture and cuts static electricity and it does not need an air-tight
structure for maximum efficiency, so building occupants can open doors and
windows.

Example 1: Moist air enters a farrowing house at 34F db and 60% RH,
replacing air removed from space by an exhaust fan. If air leaves at
2700cfm, 68F db, and 65% RH, how much latent heat and sensible heat
are added per hour to the air inside the building?

Use Psychrometric chart to solve this problem.

Solution:

PART 1: Sensible Heat

Sensible heat is dry heat. It causes change in temperature in a
substance, but not change in the moisture content of that substance.

Approach 1: Using Psychrometric chart:

(Approximate answer)

Approach 2: Using direct equation:

where
 is the sensible heat flow,
 is the specific heat equal to 0.2388
 is the air density at standard condition, equal to 0.075
 is the measured air flow
 is the temperature difference, equal to

…….. (Exact answer)

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PART 2: Latent Heat

Latent heat is the heat that when supplied to or removed from a
substance, there is a change in the moisture content of that substance, but the
temperature of that substance does not change.

Approach 1: Using Psychrometric chart:

(Approximate answer)

Approach 2: Using direct equation:

where
 is the latent heat flow,
 is the latent heat of vaporization and is equal to 1060
 is the air density at standard condition, equal to 0.075
 is the measured air flow
 is the humidity ratio difference. It is the
difference in water content of air between first and 2 nd measurement
location.

Finding and from and

( )
 is the saturation pressure of the air stream at the dew point
temperature
 is the saturation pressure of the air stream at ambient temperature
 is humidity expressed as a value between 0 and 1, not as %RH

From thermodynamic table, the following values are extracted and calculated:

( )

( )

…(Exact answer)

Total heat=Sensible heat + Latent heat

=

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Example 2: Mixing of two air streams

An air-conditioning system is designed to deliver 100,000 cfm of air to a

conditioned space. Of this total, 90,000 cfm is recirculated indoor air at
72°F and 40% relative humidity; 10,000 cfm is outdoor air at 0°F (17.8°C).
What are the enthalpy, temperature, moisture content, and relative
humidity of the resulting air mixture? If air enters the room from the
outlet grille at 60°F (15.6°C) after leaving the apparatus at a 50°F (10°C)
dew point and the return air is at 75°F (23.9°C), what proportion of
conditioned air and bypassed return air must be used to produce the
desired outlet temperature at the grille?

Solution:

Air to deliver: 100,000 cfm =100,000 ft3/min =2831

m3/min
Air to circulate: 90,000 cfm = ft3/min =2548 m3/min
Air to outdoor: 10,000 cfm = ft3/min =283.1
m3/min

1. Proportion of each air stream:

100% = 90% + 10%

2. Enthalpy of each airstream:

Using thermodynamic table:
Enthalpy of air is =24.6 Btu/lb

3. Moisture content of each airstream:

Temperature of indoor air is 72°F =22.2°C
RH of indoor air is 40%
Moisture content of indoor air (from Psychrometric chart)=

Temperature of outdoor air is 72°F =-17.8°C

RH of outdoor air is 0%
Moisture content of indoor air (from Psychrometric chart)=

4. Enthalpy of the air mixture:

5. Temperature of the air mixture:

6. Moisture content of the air mixture

7. RH of the mixture:
Using Psychrometric chart at the temperature of the air mixture and the
corresponding moisture content, the RH of the mixture can be found at 47%.

8. Required air proportions:

( )
{

Solving the above system of equation:

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Example 3: Mixing two air stream

For the system in Figure 1, assuming two equal mass ( ̇ ̇ ̇ ) of

moist air with same temperature ( ), using thermodynamic
approach, calculate the relative humidity at the outlet for different levels of
relative humidity at the inlets. Discuss the possibility of using this system in
tropical lowland greenhouses.

Figure 1. Mixing two air stream with different RH

Solution:

A schematic design based on the concept of mixing two volumes of moist air
with different levels of relative humidity is shown in fig. 11. Air conditioners are
usually designed to create 40% to 60% relative humidity. Assuming two equal
mass ( ̇ ̇ ̇ ) and same temperature ( ) flow of moist
air with 85% relative humidity of the outside environment and 50% relative
humidity at the outlet of air conditioner, writing mass conservation equation for
this systems yields the expressions in (16). Based on this analysis, relative
humidity of the mixed air will be equal to 67% with temperature equal to .
The thermodynamic values for this system are given in Table 8.

̇ ̇ ̇
̇ ̇ ̇
̇ ̇ ̇
(16)
̇ ̇ ̇
̇
̇

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Figure 2. Dehumidification by air refrigeration, supply air is dehumidified, and

cooled as it passes over the evaporator coil. (a) Without heating coil. (b) With
heating coil.

Figure 3. Mixing two volumes of moist air with different levels of relative humidity

Table 1. Thermodynamic table for the evaporative cooling system in figure 6.

Property Value Units

50 %
85 %
67 %

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Temperature to be expected from evaporative cooling method

The greater the difference between the wet bulb and dry bulb
temperatures, the greater the achievable temperature reduction. Here’s how to
calculate temperature reductions achievable with direct, indirect,
indirect/direct, and indirect/indirect evaporative cooling. These examples use a
starting dry bulb (DB) temperature of 86 degrees F and wet bulb (WB)
temperature of 66 degrees F.

Temperature reduction achievable using direct evaporative cooling

With direct evaporative cooling, the dry bulb temperature is reduced while
the web bulb temperature remains the same.

Figure 4. Psychrometric chart

1. Temp drop achievable = (dry bulb - wet bulb ) x (efficiency* of the media)
Example: (86 degrees - 66 degrees) x .9 = 18 degrees
2. Achievable temp = dry bulb - temp drop achievable
Example: 86 degrees - 18 degrees = 68 degrees DB/66 degrees WB**
3. Starting DB: 86 degrees
Ending DB: 68 degrees
*Efficiency is usually 90%

Because cooling is achieved by adding moisture to the supply air stream, the
new dry bulb/web bulb temperatures are found on the wet bulb gradient.

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Appendix A

Psychrometric Chart

The psychrometric chart graphically represents the relationship between

air temperature and moisture content and is a basic design tool for mechanical
engineers and designers.

Common processes include:

o Sensible cooling/sensible heating
o Cooling and dehumidification/heating and humidification
o Humidification/dehumidification
o Evaporative cooling/chemical dehydration

Figure below shows a basic Psychrometric chart.

Figure 5. Psychrometric chart

Using a psychrometric chart to calculate the dry bulb temperature

possible with direct evaporative cooling

With direct evaporative cooling, the dry bulb temperature is reduced while
the web bulb temperature remains constant.

1. Start with the dry bulb (DB) and wet bulb (WB) design conditions for the
location you are interested in. For example, Portland’s 1% design conditions
are 86 degrees DB and 66 degrees WB.
2. Find where 86 degrees on the dry bulb line intersects with 66 degrees on the
wet bulb line (see Figure 2). That is the starting point.

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Figure 6. Starting point

3. Calculate the temperature drop achievable using the following formulas.

Figure 3 graphically represents the process.

Temperature drop achievable = (dry bulb - wet bulb) x (efficiency of the

media)
Example: (86 degrees - 66 degrees) x .9 = 18 degrees

Achievable temperature = dry bulb - temp drop achievable

Example: 86 degrees - 18 degrees = 68 degrees DB

Because cooling is achieved by adding moisture to the supply air stream, the
new dry bulb/wet bulb temperatures are found on the wet bulb gradient.

Figure 7. Direct evaporative cooling

4. Starting temperatures: 86 degrees DB/66 degrees WB

5. Ending temperatures: 68 degrees DB/66 degrees WB

References:
Schnelle, M.A., Cole, J.C., Dole, J.M. 2003. Mist Propagation Systems and Humidity
Chambers for the Nursery and Greenhouse. Oklahoma Cooperative Extension
Service- F-6708. Oklahoma State University. Stillwater, OK.
Giacomelli, A., William, J.R. 1993. Greenhouse covering systems. HortTechnology 3,50-58.
Duan, Z., Zhan, C., Zhang, X., Mustafa, M., Zhao, X., Alimohammadisagvand, B., Hasan, A.
2012. Indirect evaporative cooling: Past, present and future potentials.
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16, 6823-6850.

Dr. Ramin Shamshiri Lecture Note 7th Jan 2014