Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems
The rise in demand of air conditioning is unsustainable. Concerns over the subsequent greenhouse emissions and global climate change led to a recent rise of interest by professionals in the building sector in the application of ancient cooling techniques in contemporary architecture to reduce energy...
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| Format: | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| Language: | English English |
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2018
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55217/ |
| _version_ | 1848799133269229568 |
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| author | Vallejo, Juan |
| author_facet | Vallejo, Juan |
| author_sort | Vallejo, Juan |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | The rise in demand of air conditioning is unsustainable. Concerns over the subsequent greenhouse emissions and global climate change led to a recent rise of interest by professionals in the building sector in the application of ancient cooling techniques in contemporary architecture to reduce energy demand and deliver healthy and comfortable environments. Despite the successful progress, further research is still needed to make passive cooling systems appealing to a wider audience and to address the limitations found in previous work.
This research responded to this context by focusing on the design and manufacture of a novel cooling system that combined the principles of passive cooling with the inherited use of ceramics in architecture to create an aesthetic and optimised wetted Porous Ceramic Cooling (PCC) screen that improves comfort conditions in indoor, transitional and outdoor spaces. The optimisation focused in the geometrical characteristics of the ceramic element and in the water supply method. This process was informed by a continuous performance monitoring that evaluated cooling and hydraulic capacity of several prototypes under a wide range of ambient conditions. In addition, new steady state and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models were developed to assist in the sizing and performance prediction of PCC systems in early and late design stages.
The resulting system consisted of tubular-shaped samples arranged over a vertical plane. Water was supplied using a top-drip irrigation system and engraved water channels uniformly distributed the fluid over the ceramic surface to induce evaporation when exposed to an airstream. Experimental and computational studies confirmed the significant impact of geometry on the evaporation rate, highlighting the proportional and inversely proportional relationship of the ceramic effective surface area (ESA) and drag coefficient (Cd) respectively. Air temperature reductions up to 2°C were observed under the warmer and dryer hours of the monitored period (DBT-WBT greater than 12°C) and a competitive average water consumption of 2-4 l/m2·day was obtained. Furthermore, the developed numerical models demonstrated their effectiveness in assisting the design process of PCC systems, allowing estimate airstream velocities, achieved temperature reduction, humidity increase and water consumption prior to manufacture. It is hoped that this research will contribute to a wider application of passive evaporative cooling techniques in architecture. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:30:49Z |
| format | Thesis (University of Nottingham only) |
| id | nottingham-55217 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:30:49Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-552172025-02-28T14:15:11Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55217/ Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems Vallejo, Juan The rise in demand of air conditioning is unsustainable. Concerns over the subsequent greenhouse emissions and global climate change led to a recent rise of interest by professionals in the building sector in the application of ancient cooling techniques in contemporary architecture to reduce energy demand and deliver healthy and comfortable environments. Despite the successful progress, further research is still needed to make passive cooling systems appealing to a wider audience and to address the limitations found in previous work. This research responded to this context by focusing on the design and manufacture of a novel cooling system that combined the principles of passive cooling with the inherited use of ceramics in architecture to create an aesthetic and optimised wetted Porous Ceramic Cooling (PCC) screen that improves comfort conditions in indoor, transitional and outdoor spaces. The optimisation focused in the geometrical characteristics of the ceramic element and in the water supply method. This process was informed by a continuous performance monitoring that evaluated cooling and hydraulic capacity of several prototypes under a wide range of ambient conditions. In addition, new steady state and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models were developed to assist in the sizing and performance prediction of PCC systems in early and late design stages. The resulting system consisted of tubular-shaped samples arranged over a vertical plane. Water was supplied using a top-drip irrigation system and engraved water channels uniformly distributed the fluid over the ceramic surface to induce evaporation when exposed to an airstream. Experimental and computational studies confirmed the significant impact of geometry on the evaporation rate, highlighting the proportional and inversely proportional relationship of the ceramic effective surface area (ESA) and drag coefficient (Cd) respectively. Air temperature reductions up to 2°C were observed under the warmer and dryer hours of the monitored period (DBT-WBT greater than 12°C) and a competitive average water consumption of 2-4 l/m2·day was obtained. Furthermore, the developed numerical models demonstrated their effectiveness in assisting the design process of PCC systems, allowing estimate airstream velocities, achieved temperature reduction, humidity increase and water consumption prior to manufacture. It is hoped that this research will contribute to a wider application of passive evaporative cooling techniques in architecture. 2018-12-12 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55217/1/JV_Thesis_082018.pdf application/pdf en arr https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55217/2/PCCT.xlsx Vallejo, Juan (2018) Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. evaporative cooling porous ceramic passive architecture calculation tool |
| spellingShingle | evaporative cooling porous ceramic passive architecture calculation tool Vallejo, Juan Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| title | Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| title_full | Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| title_fullStr | Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| title_short | Design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| title_sort | design integration of novel porous ceramic evaporative cooling systems |
| topic | evaporative cooling porous ceramic passive architecture calculation tool |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55217/ |