A study of a multi-stage downdraught evaporative cooling device using CFD to assess the effect of the primary inlet to mixing stack area ratio: Preliminary work to establish the baseline performance of the device

摘要

The aim of the research work described in this paper is to use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to optimize the geometry of a multi-stage evaporative cooling device to investigate the effects on its performance by varying the primary inlet to mixing stack area ratio. The studies do not simulate external wind effects or a wind catcher and the ambient air inlet was modelled as an opening. The computational domain was modelled to represent a typical small building having an overall cooled space volume of 1350 m~3. The general result suggests that the combined effect of the increased mass flow rate and increased evaporative potential of the incoming air resulted in the observed increase in sensible cooling power.