TY - JOUR
T1 - Long-term performance of a hybrid indirect evaporative cooling-mechanical vapor compression cycle
T2 - A case study in Saudi Arabia
AU - Chen, Qian
AU - Ja M, Kum
AU - Burhan, Muhammad
AU - Shahzad, Muhammad Wakil
AU - Ybyraiymkul, Doskhan
AU - Oh, Seungjin
AU - Cui, Xin
AU - Ng, Kim Choon
N1 - Funding information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the generous funding from 1) the KAUST Cooling Initiative (KCI) project, REP/1/3988-01-01, and 2) the Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and (3) Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University (07010100018).
PY - 2022/11/8
Y1 - 2022/11/8
N2 - In Saudi Arabia, air conditioning is the main consumer of electricity, and increasing its energy efficiency is of great importance for energy conservation and carbon footprint reduction. This study presents the evaluation of a hybrid indirect evaporative cooling-mechanical vapor compression (IEC-MVC) cycle for cooling applications in Saudi Arabia. Most cities in this country are characterized by a high sensible cooling demand, and a few cities near the coasts of the Red sea and the Persian Gulf also need dehumidification. By employing the hybrid system, IEC can undertake about 60% of the cooling load in the summer of arid cities, and energy consumption can be reduced by up to 50%. The contribution of IEC and energy saving are less significant in humid cities because the latent loads have to be handled by MVC. Over the whole year, IEC contributes 50% of the total cooling capacity and reduces energy consumption by 40% in dry cities, while the saving is lower at 15%–25% in humid cities like Mecca and Jeddah. The average water consumption of the IEC is in the range of 4–12 L/hr. The water consumption can be replenished by the condensate collected from the MVC evaporator if the ambient humidity is high. Based on the annual performance, the cost of the IEC-MVC process is calculated, and it is 15%–35% lower than the standalone MVC. The results demonstrate the great potential of the hybrid IEC-MVC cycle in Saudi Arabia.
AB - In Saudi Arabia, air conditioning is the main consumer of electricity, and increasing its energy efficiency is of great importance for energy conservation and carbon footprint reduction. This study presents the evaluation of a hybrid indirect evaporative cooling-mechanical vapor compression (IEC-MVC) cycle for cooling applications in Saudi Arabia. Most cities in this country are characterized by a high sensible cooling demand, and a few cities near the coasts of the Red sea and the Persian Gulf also need dehumidification. By employing the hybrid system, IEC can undertake about 60% of the cooling load in the summer of arid cities, and energy consumption can be reduced by up to 50%. The contribution of IEC and energy saving are less significant in humid cities because the latent loads have to be handled by MVC. Over the whole year, IEC contributes 50% of the total cooling capacity and reduces energy consumption by 40% in dry cities, while the saving is lower at 15%–25% in humid cities like Mecca and Jeddah. The average water consumption of the IEC is in the range of 4–12 L/hr. The water consumption can be replenished by the condensate collected from the MVC evaporator if the ambient humidity is high. Based on the annual performance, the cost of the IEC-MVC process is calculated, and it is 15%–35% lower than the standalone MVC. The results demonstrate the great potential of the hybrid IEC-MVC cycle in Saudi Arabia.
KW - indirect evaporative cooling
KW - mechanical vapor compression
KW - long-term analysis
KW - energy saving
KW - water consumption
KW - economic analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85142241521&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fbuil.2022.1032961
DO - 10.3389/fbuil.2022.1032961
M3 - Article
SN - 2297-3362
VL - 8
SP - 1
EP - 14
JO - Frontiers in Built Environment
JF - Frontiers in Built Environment
M1 - 1032961
ER -
