TY - JOUR
T1 - Applicability of indirect evaporative cooler for energy recovery in hot and humid areas
T2 - Comparison with heat recovery wheel
AU - Min, Yunran
AU - Chen, Yi
AU - Shi, Wenchao
AU - Yang, Hongxing
N1 - Funding Information:
The work described in this paper was financially supported by the GRF research projects (No. 15213219 and No. 15200420) of the Research Grants Committee, the Hong Kong SAR Government. Supports from the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is appreciated.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/4/1
Y1 - 2021/4/1
N2 - The indirect evaporative cooler (IEC), used as a novel energy recovery component for central air-conditioning (AC) systems, can cool and dehumidify the fresh air by capturing the waste thermal energy of exhaust air. To facilitate its implementation in hot and humid areas, the applicability of the hybrid AC system integrated with IEC needs to be addressed. This study quantitatively evaluated the cooling and energy-saving potentials of an IEC for energy recovery and compared it to a traditional hybrid AC system with a heat recovery wheel (HRW). On-site performance measurements were conducted in a wet market located in Hong Kong, where two air-handling units were integrated with a newly-designed IEC prototype and a commercial HRW respectively. Simulation models of the two hybrid AC systems were established based on TRNSYS platform by incorporating the numerical model of IEC and HRW respectively. The field-measurement data was used to validate the component models, and further calibrate the system models. To compare the regional adaptability of the two systems, annual simulations were conducted among 8 selected cities in southern China. Results showed that the total cooling capacities of IEC and HRW are closely related to local ambient relative humidity. Compared with the baseline AC system, the AC + IEC provides an annual energy saving intensity of 64.2–73.4 MJ/m2 for cities with hot and moderate humid climates, which is more competitive than the AC + HRW (45.5–51.8 MJ/m2). The annual energy saving ratios of the two types of hybrid systems range from 14.4% to 26.4%.
AB - The indirect evaporative cooler (IEC), used as a novel energy recovery component for central air-conditioning (AC) systems, can cool and dehumidify the fresh air by capturing the waste thermal energy of exhaust air. To facilitate its implementation in hot and humid areas, the applicability of the hybrid AC system integrated with IEC needs to be addressed. This study quantitatively evaluated the cooling and energy-saving potentials of an IEC for energy recovery and compared it to a traditional hybrid AC system with a heat recovery wheel (HRW). On-site performance measurements were conducted in a wet market located in Hong Kong, where two air-handling units were integrated with a newly-designed IEC prototype and a commercial HRW respectively. Simulation models of the two hybrid AC systems were established based on TRNSYS platform by incorporating the numerical model of IEC and HRW respectively. The field-measurement data was used to validate the component models, and further calibrate the system models. To compare the regional adaptability of the two systems, annual simulations were conducted among 8 selected cities in southern China. Results showed that the total cooling capacities of IEC and HRW are closely related to local ambient relative humidity. Compared with the baseline AC system, the AC + IEC provides an annual energy saving intensity of 64.2–73.4 MJ/m2 for cities with hot and moderate humid climates, which is more competitive than the AC + HRW (45.5–51.8 MJ/m2). The annual energy saving ratios of the two types of hybrid systems range from 14.4% to 26.4%.
KW - Energy recovery
KW - Hot-humid area
KW - Indirect evaporative cooler
KW - Performance evaluation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85100741073&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116607
DO - 10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.116607
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85100741073
SN - 0306-2619
VL - 287
JO - Applied Energy
JF - Applied Energy
M1 - 116607
ER -