The role of wet curtains in dry coolers
Core role: evaporation and cooling
A. Principle: Wet curtains are usually made of porous absorbent materials (such as honeycomb paper, plant fibers or synthetic materials). When dry and hot air passes through the wet curtain, the water evaporates and absorbs the sensible heat of the air, which is converted into latent heat, thus significantly reducing the air temperature (can be cooled down by 5~15℃, the specific effect depends on the humidity of the environment).
B. Features: This process is adiabatic humidification and cooling without compressor, energy efficient and suitable for dry climate.
Auxiliary function
A. Humidified air: In dry environments, wet curtains can increase air humidity and improve comfort (but may not be suitable for high humidity areas).
B. Filtering dust: wet curtains can intercept some of the dust and particles in the air and play a preliminary purification role.
C. Energy saving and environmental protection: compared with the traditional refrigerant compression refrigeration, evaporative cooling consumes less electricity and is pollution-free.
Application Scenarios
A. Industrial cooling: such as factories, greenhouses, data centers and other places that require low-cost cooling.
B. Domestic air-conditioning: some evaporative cooling fans (such as “water air-conditioning”) utilize wet curtains for cooling.
C. Agriculture: Temperature and humidity regulation of livestock and poultry houses or greenhouses.
Precaution
A. Water Quality Requirements: Wet curtains need to be cleaned and water replaced regularly to prevent scale or algae from clogging the pores.
B. Humidity limitation: In humid areas (e.g. rainy season) the cooling effect will be significantly reduced.
C. Maintenance: Long-term deactivation requires dry storage to avoid mold and mildew.
Comparison with dry cooling mode
A. Dry cooler without wet curtain: only through the air - refrigerant heat exchanger cooling (such as traditional air conditioning), does not increase humidity, but higher energy consumption.
B. When the wet curtain is enabled: cooling is more energy efficient, but it raises the humidity of the exit air, which may affect some processes (e.g., precision instrument workshops).
Conclusion
To summarize, the wet curtain is the key component of evaporative cooling in the dry cooler, through the exchange of heat and moisture between water and air to achieve efficient cooling, especially for dry and hot environment, but need to weigh the impact of increased humidity.
