Passive Down Draft Evaporative Cooling: The Applicability for Office space cooling in Banglore,India

Mechanical Engineering

The climate in Bangalore is characterized by low relative humidity and very high summer ambient temperatures. Space cooling is therefore required to achieve internal thermal comfort. Air-conditioning is the typical cooling solution, and accounts for about 65% of energy use in buildings in this region. This is a notable source of greenhouse gas emissions and coupled with their high-energy demand, alternative means of achieving space cooling would prove invaluable. This paper investigated the applicability of Passive Downdraught Evaporative Cooling (PDEC) in office buildings in this region by using a proposed PDEC system for a Incubation Center as a research vehicle. “Downdraught cooling is an energy efficient, and cost effective alternative to conventional air-conditioning for new and existing buildings” [2]. It is a well-tested system and the climatic conditions of Bangalore favor its application. This study was carried out in three phases; the first phase involved reducing the building cooling loads by appropriate solar control and improving the building envelope; the second phase was an evaluation and optimization of the proposed PDEC system; the third phase involved future-proofing the building by evaluating the performance of the system in the year 2100 using interpolated weather data. Internal comfort conditions were determined based on the adaptive comfort principle and the efficacy of the system was assessed by the percentage of resultant hourly internal temperatures achieved within the target comfort range when the PDEC system was in operation. The CFD analysis was done using FLUENT and the results showed the proposed PDEC system fulfilled the cooling requirements for more than 75% of the required periods (both for present-day and future climatic conditions). The study therefore lends credence to the applicability of PDEC as a viable cooling solution for office buildings in Bangalore and other regions with similar climatic conditions.

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