SET Proceedings 2978-4387 Caravel Press 10.65582/set.2003.052 2003.052 Porous ceramics for building evaporative cooling IbrahimElfatih Elfatih.Ibrahim@nottingham.ac.uk ShaoLi RiffatSaffa B. School of the Built Environment, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK. 24102003 2 1 978-1-995850-10-8 231 235 © 2003 Copyright WSSET 2003

Porous ceramic evaporators are considered viable alternatives for cooling buildings. Performance of ceramic panels, placed in a duct within a climate chamber, was assessed under controlled dry bulb temperature, relative humidity, supply water pressure, and layout in the duct. Results showed higher porosity ceramic and higher water pressure delivered greatest cooling. Dry bulb temperature drops of 6-8 Kelvin were achieved parallel with a 30 % rise in relative humidity. Maximum cooling, 224 W/m2 of ceramic surface, was recorded for a high porosity ceramic in a single row stack and water supplied at 1.0m head. Ceramic surface temperatures were around 2.5 K to 4.0 K above wet bulb, indicating potential improvement through better heat/mass transfer. Empirical formulae relate mean cooling performance to [es-e], ambient to saturated vapour pressure difference. Direct evaporative cooling, using porous ceramic evaporators, has demonstrated significant potential for building cooling.

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