Assessment of cross-flow indirect evaporative heat and mass exchanger performance using numerical methods

Indirect evaporative air-cooling system is an environmentally sustainable substitute for air-cooling interior spaces especially in hot and dry climates. In this work, a system is numerically simulated which is a heat and mass exchanger comprised of polymeric materials such as polypropylene and non-woven fabric cloth. The numerical simulation is carried out by using COMSOL Multiphysics to pretend the heat and mass exchanger in order to identify the ideal thermal comfort under actual climate conditions. It is noted that the system may higher values of energy efficiency ratio and coefficient of performance, as high as 22.3 and 6.55, respectively. The predicted results demonstrated in the dew-point effectiveness, wet-bulb effectiveness, and cooling capacity where the maximum determined values are 0.6, 0.73, and 471 W, respectively. These predicted findings were validated with experimental results which showed a maximum deviation of around 4.78 %. Based on the numerical simulation study and validation, the indirect evaporative air-cooling system be capable of the designed for different operational conditions and climatic zones as per the requirements of end users.