A novel CFD model for design and performance prediction of recuperators for Indirect Evaporative Cooling

Indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) appears to be a highly promising technology for incorporating and/or substituting traditional air conditioning systems, as it can guarantee good cooling performance with a reduced environmental impact. In this study, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model for design and performance prediction of recuperators for IEC systems with dry primary and secondary channels was developed. The model was validated against experimental data for a cross-flow recuperator, obtaining a maximum difference between numerical and experimental results of 4.9% for the secondary air outlet temperature, 5.3% for the primary air outlet temperature, and 8.1% for the dry-bulb effectiveness. After validation, the model was used to find a new plate geometry which guarantees a 12.5-15.9% improvement in the dry-bulb effectiveness, without an excessive increase in the pressure losses along the channels.