Numerical Study of an Evaporative Exchanger Based on Fired Clay

Abstract

Evaporative air coolers are one of the alternatives to conventional air conditioners for cooling the air in the building. These systems consume less energy and contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases. This work is a numerical study of an evaporative exchanger based on fired clay plates using COMSOL Multiphysics software. It was interested in hygrothermal transfers for air cooling. This study allowed to highlight the impact of the gap between the fired clay plates, the speed of the area as well as the air temperature at the inlet of the exchanger on the evolution of temperature and relative humidity of the air along the fired porous clay plates. The thermal efficiency of the exchanger was subsequently evaluated. This study allowed to note that there is a drop of 14 K along the porous plates of fired clay. Speed has an influence on outlet temperatures and relative humidity. For a speed of 0.2m/s, the temperature variation is 16 K and for speeds ranging from 2 m/s to 4m/s, the temperature variations are approximately 17 K. For gaps in porous plates of fired clay less than 2cm, the thermal efficiency varies 92% to 98%.