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Evaluation of a Direct Evaporative Roof-Spray Cooling System
Abstract
Roof-Spray cooling systems are being extensively used to
reduce the air-conditioning usage in industrial and commercial
buildings. In buildings without air-conditioning, evaporative
roof spray cooling systems help to reduce the interior
temperatures. The spray cooling systems also have been
found to increase roof life and decrease maintenance.
The present work involved designing and installing a
roof-spray cooling system- on a storage building in the Research
Annex of Texas A&M University. The roof spray
cooling system and the associated hardware were donated
and set up on the roof by a commercial vendor. Tests were
done during the summer of 1986 to compare the sprayed and
unsprayed conditions on the roof surface temperatures , heat
transfer through the roof, and the interior temperatures. The
results showed that there was an 60 percent reduction in the
heat transfer through the roof and also a reduction in inside
temperatures.
A numerical simulation was also developed to be able to
predict the temperatures and the various heat transfer rates
based on a simple energy conservation model. The model underpredicted
the temperatures and the heat transfer through
the roof when the roof was dry. But the results were closer
to the experimental values when the heat loss due to evaporation
was also included in the sprayed case.
Citation
Carrasco, A.; Pittard, R.; Kondepudi, S. N.; Somasundaram, S. (1987). Evaluation of a Direct Evaporative Roof-Spray Cooling System. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /6482.