Experimental Investigation of Performance of a Residential Air Conditioning System with an Evaporatively Cooled Condenser

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the use of indirect evaporative cooling process to increase the performance of an air-to-air vapor compression refrigeration system. The condenser of an existing 2.5 ton (8.8 kW) air conditioning system at the University of Florida’s Energy Park in Gainesville was retrofitted with a media pad type evaporative cooler, a water source, and a pump. The system performance was monitored without and with the evaporative cooler on the condenser. The data show that electric energy savings of 20 percent can be achieved by using an evaporatively cooled air condenser. The energy savings can pay for the cost associated with retrofitting the condenser in as little as two years.