Feasibility of Reducing Electricity Consumption of Air Conditioning Equipment by Condenser Direct Evaporative Cooling Technology. Example of Case Study in Dubai

Abstract

The use of air conditioning technology is accompanied by an increase in electricity consumption, which is linked to an intensification of fossil fuel extraction. This in turn calls for developing cooling solutions of higher energy efficiency. The aim of this study is to examine energy consumption reduction of direct evaporative cooling technology for generating cool air in hot-dry climate regions. At the initial stage, already-installed air cooling equipment with a direct evaporative cooling system was studied for the creation of two regression models of electricity consumption representing the “on” and “off” sequences. Water consumption for system operation was taken into consideration. In the following stage, inlet water temperature dependence for pre-cooling purposes for the direct evaporative cooling system was studied. A mathematical model was developed and the subsequent calculations suggested that there is no need to pre-cool water before it enters the system and therefore consume additional energy. Practical application of this study is evaluated based on the case study in Dubai. The results of this study present significant energy saving potential for system operations of the direct evaporative cooling system of approximately 122 MWh per year. The return on investment for the equipment with direct evaporative cooling in case of an office building in Dubai featuring a hot desert climate is around 4.2 years. The purpose of this study is to examine the potential advantage of air cooling equipment with direct evaporative cooling technology compared to cooling equipment without this technology. The results provide the expediency of conducting further research in this area, in particular with regards to analyzing various materials for the adiabatic precooling pads, as well as the possibility of using a newly developed metal precooling pad.

Keywords

• air conditioning
• indoor environmental quality
• energy efficiency
• energy consumption
• direct evaporative cooling