Study of a hybrid cooling system combining a direct evaporative cooler and an earth-air heat exchanger

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to study a hybrid cooling system combining an earth-air heat exchanger and a direct evaporative cooler (EAHE-DEC). An experimental setup of the DEC system was realized at the University of Ouargla to evaluate its thermal performance. However, a numerical model is developed using Matlab to examine the effect of different parameters, namely the EAHE pipe’s diameter, air velocity, and the used material in the pad’s tampon, on the performances of the proposed system. The model was verified using experimental data that handed good concordance. Results showed that the proposed hybrid system is able to decrease the temperature from 51.3 °C to 21.23 °C, which approves the feasibility of the EAHE-DEC system to attain thermal comfort in residential buildings.