Feasibility Study of the Dew Point Evaporative Cooling System for UK & EU Building Air Conditioning

This paper investigated the feasibility of the dew point evaporative cooling for air conditioning of buildings in the UK/EU regions. The issues involved include analyses of the UK and EU weather conditions, investigation of availability of water for dew point cooling, and assessment of cooling capacity of the system over various regions of UK and EU countries. It is concluded that the dew point system is suitable for most regions of the UK/EU countries, particularly Portugal, Spain, France, German, Hungary, Poland and Romania. It is unsuitable for some regions in Italy, such as Venice and Rome, where the air is too humid to be dealt with using the system. Lower humidity results in higher difference between the dry bulb and dew point of the air, which benefits to the system in terms of the enhancing its cooling performance. Tap water has a suitable temperature to feed the system for cooling and its consumption rate is in the range 2 to 2.5 litre/kWh output. The cooling output of the system ranges from 1.6 to 5.2 W per m³/h air flow rate, depending on the region where the system applies. For a 100 m² of buildings with 30W/m² cooling load, the required air volume flow rate varies with its application location and is in the range 700 to 1700 m³/h. This building consumes 50 to 60 litres of water daily. Compared with mild or humid climates, the dry and hot climates need less air volume flow rate and less water.