Quote:
Originally Posted by IYIENACE
In stage one, the incoming air passes through a heat exchanger, drying it somewhat. This heated drier air then enters stage two:
Where it passes through a wet pad. The greater the thermal difference, the greater the cooling effect.
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This is the bit that confuses me. If I understand correctly, you're using the cooling fluid from the system to pre-heat the air. This warmer air then cools some fluid - and this is where I get confused. What are you doing with the cooled fluid?
Also, I think the "low humidity" part is a bit of a red herring as far as cooling goes. The net heat you are dumping to atmosphere will basically be the mass flow rate of water multiplied by the latent heat of evaporation of the water (about 2.5 MJ/Kg at room temperature). The potential efficiency improvement in this system is that you will be able to dump more heat per unit volume of air, as warmer air is able to carry more water. There will be a pretty insignificant change in the total water consumption (a quick look at my steam tables suggests that the latent heat of evaporation of water decreases as temperature increases).
Was going to post more, but too tired...
Let us know if it works - sounds an interesting concept