What question did this study set out to answer?

The study aims to evaluate the thermal and moisture performance of a coupled cooling system for data centers.

April 1, 2026Open Access

Experimental investigation on thermal and moisture performance of direct evaporative cooling coupled with phase change plates for data centers

Puntos clave

The study aims to evaluate the thermal and moisture performance of a coupled cooling system for data centers.
Investigated the effects of inlet air temperature, inlet relative humidity, air supply velocity, and water flow rate.
Conducted experiments with varying environmental conditions and system parameters.
Measured cooling efficiency and dehumidification performance under specified conditions.
The coupled system improved cooling efficiency by 31.43% when inlet air temperature increased from 28 °C to 44 °C.
At 36 °C and 60% relative humidity, the outlet temperature reached 27 °C with 62.3% humidity, achieving a 22% dehumidification rate.
Cooling performance factors were prioritized as inlet air temperature, air supply velocity, relative humidity, and water flow, with significant contributions from each.

Resumen

Direct evaporative cooling is widely used in data centers but risks elevating humidity. This study proposes a direct ventilation channel system integrating direct evaporative cooling with phase change plates. Experiments investigated effects of inlet air temperature (IAT: 28–44 °C), inlet relative humidity (IRH: 20–60%), air supply velocity (ASV: 1.0–3.0 m/s), and water flow (40–120 mL/min). Results show: (Ⅰ) The coupled system exhibits synergistic effects, achieving 31.43% cooling efficiency improvement as IAT increases from 28 °C to 44 °C. (Ⅱ) At IAT=36 °C and IRH=60%, outlet temperature reaches 27 °C with 62.3% RH, achieving 22% dehumidification rate. Dehumidification efficiency exceeds 18.8% for over 5 hours when IRH≥40%. (Ⅲ) Cooling performance factors order: IAT > ASV > IRH > WF, with IAT contributing 94.6%. Dehumidification factors order: IRH > IAT > ASV > WF, with IRH contributing 62.8% and IAT 23.9%. The system achieves EER up to 6.3 when meeting data center cooling demand (1728–3456 m 3 /h) at 30–32 °C. This study provides a feasible energy-saving cooling strategy for data centers.

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