State-of-the-Art of Evaporative Cooling Systems

Air cooling is a key issue in a large variety of buildings present in warm climates. Among air conditioning systems, those conventional based on compression technology are strictly associated to environmental issues: the high energy consumption to which such devices are subjected and the presence of greenhouse gases in refrigerants are the most relevant factors that make this kind of technology unattractive. Differently, the use of evaporative cooling systems allows to obtain considerable energy savings. Another fundamental issue related to the air cooling concerns the thermal comfort in industrial buildings; often industrial sites are characterized by a serious lack of comfortable ambient conditions and workers have to deal with the implied consequences, in terms of comfort, health and productivity. With this regard, refrigerating demand and installation of evaporative cooling machines can be well matched. After a brief description of the basic principles that govern thermal and moisture exchange processes with respect to evaporative cooling systems, a characterization of the most known air conditioning systems, able, even in part, to enhance the thermal comfort in industrial places at relatively low costs is performed.