Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation And Performance Analysis Of Plate-Type Indirect Evaporative Cooler With Condensation

Indirect evaporative cooling is a cooling method that the evaporation of water and the cooling of water are controlled in two different channels.This paper described a cross-flow type of indirect evaporative cooler with condensation in primary airflow. According to the heat and mass transfer performance of indirect evaporative cooler, three-dimensional mathematical model had been established. With the preprocessor Gambit, the geometry and mesh generation was completed. After defining the boundary types of the model, the mesh file was imported into the solver Fluent. The simulation was began based on defining the boundary which was coupled with heat and mass transfer. Numerical simulation was performed with different inlet velocity, temperature, water vapor concentration and channel width. The characteristic curves and diagrams which described the pressure, velocity, and concentration of the indirect evaporative cooler were presented by the software of Tecplot and Smartdraw. The differences between the condensation condition and non-condensation condition were compared and analyzed.Based on the results of numerical simulation, the conversion and destruction of available energy had been studied. The exergy destruction in and out of the heat exchanger were also researched. The thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency of indirect evaporative cooler were defined according to the thermodynamic performance of heat and mass transfer. The effects of a wide variety of parameters such as the velocity, the temperature, the inlet moisture content of the primary and the secondary airflow, the channel width on basic thermodynamic criterion, such as thermal efficiency, exergy efficiency, exergy efficiency ratio, thermodynamics consummation, exergy destruction rate, exergy destruction coefficient, are simulated numerically.The analytical results indicate that the temperature and the concentration of water vapor have been changed in the condition of condensation and also provide evidence of structural optimum of indirect evaporative cooler.