Case Studies in Thermal Engineering (Mar 2022)
Exergy, sustainability and performance analysis of ground source direct evaporative cooling system
Abstract
A significant portion of global energy consumption is due to energy consumption in the buildings. Heating, cooling, and air conditioning systems have the largest share in this energy consumption. Evaporative cooling systems, which have the advantage of being economical, zero pollution, and easy maintenance are preferred to reduce energy consumption in buildings. These systems are used in many areas such as greenhouses, broiler houses, and warehouses. In this study, analyzes of exergy, sustainability, and cooling efficiency in four different situations of a ground source direct evaporative cooling system were made. The system was studied in four different cases. While the highest exergy efficiency was obtained in case 3 with 20.83%, the exergy efficiencies in other cases were obtained as 16.83%, 17.49%, and 18.36%, respectively. In addition, the highest specific exergy loss was determined as 100.51 J/kg in case 2, while it was calculated as 73.08 J/kg, 80.23 J/kg, and 73.05 J/kg for the other cases, respectively. It is seen that the sustainability values are in parallel with the exergy efficiency when the evaporative cooling system is examined for four different cases. The sustainability values were determined as 1.20 for case 1, 1.21 for case 2, 1.26 for case 3, and 1.22 for case 4. It is determined that the exergy efficiency gives precise information about the usability and sustainability of the system when these situations are evaluated. The exergetic improvement potential (EIP) was determined as 0.061 for case 1, 0.082 for case 2, 0.063 for case 3, and 0.059 for case 4, respectively. Although the highest exergy efficiency is obtained in case 3, it has a higher recovery potential than case 1 and case 4. In addition, cooling efficiencies for four different cases were obtained as 33.70%, 34.81%, 41.69%, and 36.95%, respectively. The temperature differences between the room and ambient temperatures were determined as 1.45 °C, 1.21 °C, 1.6 °C, and 1.48 °C for each case, respectively.
