Potential of evaporative cooling in the climate of Serbia

Evaluating the evaporative cooling potential primarily depends on gaining a detailed and accurate understanding of the local climate. In this study, the potential of evaporative cooling was estimated based on the bioclimatic analysis and psychrometric chart using CLIMATE CONSULTANT software. Bioclimatic charts were developed for 22 locations within a different climatic conditions in Serbia in order to quantify the potential of evaporative air cooling strategies for different regions. Bioclimatic charts are generated by plotting typical meteorological year weather data set on the psychrometric chart along with ranges defined with human thermal comfort models. The software tool demonstrates the effectiveness of direct and two-stage evaporative cooling for defined comfort model. The percentage reduction in total cooling hours with the help of these systems varies 16.1%-94.9% at the locations considered. The study also indicates that indirect system with vapor-compression second stage can provide adequate comfort cooling with significant savings throughout the cooling season. The obtained results generally recommend the application of evaporative cooling technology in air conditioning in the climatic conditions of Serbia, especially in all types of cooling systems based on fresh air. This can have significant implications for engineers when choosing a combination of cooling strategies which are appropriate for the specific location.