Experimental analysis of the cooling performance of a fresh air handling unit

Abstract

An experimental investigation of the performance of a fresh air handling unit integrating indirect evaporative and vapor compression cooling is conducted. Temperature and relative humidity measurements at main points within the cooling unit were logged using a wireless data acquisition system. Experimental data downloaded from the acquisition system is used for linear regression analysis, and to calculate the wet-bulb thermal effectiveness, cooling capacity and coefficient of performance of the unit. The air conditioning unit is a patented system designed and assembled at the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD) in Qatar. The peak wet-bulb thermal effectiveness of the system was found to be 1.3, and the COP was 3.4. The results showed that the unit could save as nearly 60% of the sensible cooling load required by a conventional vapor compression cooling unit. In addition, the unit could reduce power consumption by 36% when utilizing the indirect evaporative cooling cycle. Depending on ambient conditions, the investigated unit generated enough condensate to meet the water requirements of the indirect evaporative cooling cycle, which made the air conditioning system sustainable.