229

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE
COOLING AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM, INSTALLED AT THE

UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY
Vasilios Giotis
M.E. Graduate of the Faculty of Engineering,
University of Technology, Sydney
Personal email: vgiotis@yahoo.gr - Work email: v.giotis@bluegreeneng.com
Alex Revel,
Ex-Faculty of Engineering, University of
Technology, Sydney,
No. 1 Broadway, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2007.
Email: alrevel@gmail.com
William John Dartnall,
Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney,
No. 1 Broadway, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2007.
Email: john.dartnall@uts.edu.au
ABSTRACT
Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC) is a form of solar air-conditioning. The refrigerant,
water, is evaporated to provide a cooling effect and re-condensed as rain in the atmosphere.
Thus the rain cycle is employed in a manner similar to the energy consuming vapour
compression-condensation-expansion system.
Early in 2008 two IEC systems were installed in air-conditioning plant rooms at the
University of Technology Sydney (UTS), to condition outside air and supply a section of
the main UTS building.
The familiar Direct Evaporative Coolers (DECs) operate by humidifying air. DEC
Conditioned air, within the comfort zone, is only achieved in hot dry climates. DECs are
not suitable for moderately humid climates like Sydney because they add moisture to the
supply air where as IEC systems produce cooling of the outside air without adding
moisture.
So far testing under mild weather conditions showed that the coefficient of performance of
the IEC units exceeded the performance of traditional HVAC systems by a factor of 3. It is
envisaged that performance will be better under hot summer conditions, to further
demonstrate the benefits of employing the solar atmospheric cycle in place of traditional
compressor systems.
ISES-AP - 3rd International Solar Energy Society Conference Asia Pacific Region (ISES-AP-08) Incorporating
the 46th ANZSES Conference
25-28 November 2008 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre
V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall
NOMENCLATURE
A/C: Air conditioning
AHU: Air handling unit
BMS: Building management system
COP: Coefficient of performance equals the rated cooling capacity divided by electrical power of the
compressor
COP DICER_cooling: DICER system COP under cooling
COPVC_cooling: Vapour compression system COP for cooling
COPVC_heating: Vapour compression system COP for heating
cp_air: Specific heat of air at 25C, equal to 1.005 kJ/kgC
CSIRO: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
CDH: Cooling Degree Hours
DICER: Dual indirect cycle energy recovery system
DX system: Direct expansion refrigerative system
: effectiveness of sensible heat transfer of a DICER heat exchanger under heating mode
e/a: Exhaust air, exit point of secondary air stream
Ecooling = Cooling energy (thermal)
Edicerheating = Electrical energy savings for a VC system which incorporate DICER energy recovery under
heating
Eelec_DICER = Electrical energy consumption of DICER system
Eelec_VC = Electrical energy consumption of vapour compression system A/C
Eheating = Heating energy (thermal)
Economy cycle: The term fresh air economy cycle describes the use of total outside air to provide free
cooling for a building when the ambient air is at an appropriate temperature
FMU: Facilities management unit of the University of Technology Sydney
HDH: Heating Degree Hours
HVAC: Heating ventilation and air conditioning
Humidity Ratio: Ratio of H2O to dry air, units: gH2O/kg dry air
ICER: Indirect cycle energy recovery system
IEC: indirect evaporative cooling
kWr : Power- Refrigeration capacity in kW
kWe: Power - Electrical power in kW
kWhr: Energy- Refrigeration energy usage in kWh
kWhe: Energy - Electrical energy usage in kWh
.
m air: mass flow rate of air
NABERS: National Australian Building Energy Rating Scheme

o/a: Outside air, entry point of primary air stream
Primary air stream: Air that passes through the dry channel
PPHE: Plastic plate heat exchanger
r/a: Return air, entry point of secondary air stream
s/a: Supply air, exit point of primary air stream
Secondary air stream: Air that passes through the wet channel
TMY: Typical meteorological year. The TMY data sets are sets of hourly values of solar radiation and
meteorological elements for a 1 year period intended for simulations
UTS: University of Technology Sydney
UFAD: underfloor air distribution systems
VSD: Variable Speed Drive
ISES-AP - 3rd International Solar Energy Society Conference Asia Pacific Region (ISES-AP-08)
Incorporating the 46th ANZSES Conference

INTRODUCTION
The Facilities Management Unit (FMU) of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
procured two Indirect Evaporative Cooling (IEC) units in 2007. The units were suppled in
modular form by FICOM engineering. A team of UTS students and staff assembled the
units in plant rooms within the UTS tower building on Broadway. Assembly and
connection to the buildings services were completed in February of 2008. On completion
of all works a commissioning and preliminary testing procedure was initiated.
The purpose of the installation was to assess the performance of indirect evaporative
cooling in the humid-temperate climate typical of Sydney, Australia.
THEORY OF OPERATION OF INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE COOLING
Indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) has many advantages over traditional vapour
compression (VC) air-conditioning systems in terms of energy saving) and peak demand
electricity reduction (Giotis 2008).
IEC systems may be used in several configurations;
as pre-conditioners for fresh air supply to a vapour compression system,
as dedicated air-conditioning systems,
as Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery (ICER) systems,
as Dual Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery (DICER) systems (described later).
For this study, the IECs at UTS were set up as fresh air pre-conditioning units.
Development and Future of Indirect Evaporative Cooling
Direct evaporative air cooling has been in use for decades, if not a century or more. Indirect
evaporative air cooling is more recent, dating from the 1970s. Each system uses a fan to
induce flow through either a wetted media (the DEC) or a heat exchanger (the IEC) and a
small water circulating pump.
DECs add moisture to the supply air so they are effective in climates with low relative
humidity (inland) and unsuitable for air conditioning applications in areas like Sydney
(coastal).
By utilising a heat exchanger IECs, in principle, maintain the same moisture content of the
supply air as that of the inlet air. Hence only sensible heat exchange occurs.
From the late 1960s to the mid 1970s Donald R. Pescod, a CSIRO researcher,
experimented with indirect evaporative cooling. He perceived that an IEC system had all
the benefits of DEC cooling and did not have the drawback of increasing supply air
moisture content. Pescods innovation was to use a plastic plate heat exchanger in place of
metallic heat exchangers, as were used in the past. These technologies were very successful
and finally lead to the implementation of many projects such as the Caulfield and Balranald

telephone exchanges for Australia Telecom (Pescod and Prudhoe 1980). The first units
where constructed by the Hydro Thermal Engineering company (now called FICOM),
which was based in Adelaide.
Unfortunately, the low energy prices of the time did not favour the expansion of IEC
technology. Now however rising energy prices, congested electricity infrastructure as well
as environmental concerns, have IECs poised to play a significant role in the air
conditioning industry.
Components and Principles of Indirect Evaporative Cooling, and Indirect Cycle
Energy Recovery (ICER) Systems
The ICER (Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery) system uses the same heat exchanger as the
IEC system for primary air cooling and is suited to relatively dry climates in which 100%
outside air for ventilation is required by regulation or is simply preferred (Dartnall, McNab
and Adhikari 2006). The main components of an ICER system , Figure 1, may be described
as follows:
Plastic plate heat exchanger (PPHE), where the heat exchange of sensible energy
occurs between primary and secondary air streams
Primary air fan
Secondary air fan
Water spray system
The air stream between the outside air (o/a) and the supply air (s/a) is called the primary
air stream. The air stream between the return air (r/a) and the exhaust air (e/a) is called the
secondary air stream.
Fig. 1: Schematic of the Indirect Cycle Recovery (ICER) system. Primary and
secondary air do not mix, heat exchange is through the thin impermeable barrier.
(Giotis 2008).

An indirect evaporative air cooler passes primary air over the dry side of a plate and
secondary air over the adjacent wet side of that plate. Figure 1 illustrates the plant and
circuitry of indirect evaporative cooling 1 . Figure 2 shows the cross flow air and the water
paths through the plate heat exchanger. The wet side absorbs heat from the dry side by
conduction then evaporates some water into the discharging air stream. Therefore the
primary air, on the dry side, is cooled to the temperature of the wet side. Heat dissipation is
by the latent heat of vaporizing water into the secondary, or exhaust airflow. The primary
air and secondary air are in cross-flow. Ideally the product air on the dry side of the plate
would reach the wet bulb temperature of the exhausting air.
Fig. 2: Section view of the plastic plate heat exchanger showing primary and
secondary air flows (McGregor and Standfield 2006).
http://www.idalex.com, Idalex Technologies Inc. website.
Dual Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery (DICER) Systems
Fig. 3: The Dual Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery (DICER) system configuration
(Giotis 2008).
Fig. 4: The FICOM DICER 1500 4b unit shown here without the supplementary
cooling coil, access panels, spray circuit and duct fans (Giotis 2008).
Fig 5: The DICER plant installed at UTS (Broadway, NSW) primary and
secondary air paths in cross flow. Separation of the two air streams avoids
moisture addition to primary air (Giotis 2008).
The Dual Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery (DICER) uses indirect evaporative cooling as the
primary cooling system but a supplementary coil is incorporated. The coil may be of direct
expansion or chilled water type. In this way DICER systems may also be used in humid
climates.
The coil serves the purpose of lowering the temperature of both supply and return air and
dehumidifying. To further understand the process, the air-paths of a DICER / ICER system
are depicted in Figure 3. Figure 4 shows air entries and exits for the heat exchanger.
Primary and secondary air paths through the DICER 1500 unit are shown in Figure 5. This
unit had two Plug Fans; one to draw primary air through the heat exchanger and the other
to extract and discharge the secondary air.
TESTS
Five tests were carried out on the DICER 1500 4b unit (Table 1). Tests i to iv were carried
out without chilled water and under varied outdoor conditions. Test v was the only test that
used chilled water.
The outdoor condition of each test is depicted in Figure 6, also showing the supplementary
cooling range, which starts at humidity ratios (HR) greater than 10 g/kg. Tests i and ii,
which had outdoor conditions where HR was greater than 10 g/kg, were carried out without
supplementary cooling.
Tab 1: Test results for DICER 1500 for Sydney conditions, during March of 2008 (Giotis
2008).
Outside air
Supply air
Test
Chilled
water
Tdb
[C]
RH
HR
[g H2O/kg air]
Tdb
[C]
RH
COP
off
27.7
66.0%
15.6
23.5
71.0%
5.7
ii
off
25.9
69.4%
14.7
21.8
79.9%
4.7
iii
off
26.1
38.0%
7.6
16.9
54.1%
7.3
iv
off
26.1
38.0%
8.2
17.2
51.2%
8.6
on
26.1
35.8%
7.7
12.6
53.5%
5.9
Fig. 6: Range of outside air (o/a) conditions for which tests were carried out.
Test i and ii were carried out at warm Tdb and high HR. Test iii, iv, and v were
carried out at warm Tdb and low HR. For HR less than of 10 g of H2O per kg dry
air supplementary cooling and dehumidification is not required.
8
Fig. 7: Results for test iv. Point o/a, to r/a is the primary air supply. Point r/a to e/a is the
secondary air supply. Outdoor conditions are warm Tdb and low HR (Giotis 2008).
Test iv displayed the highest COP of all the tests performed. Outdoor conditions for this
state were as follows: warm dry bulb temperature and low HR (humidity ratio). This
resulted in an exceptionally good COP because of the low HR of the outside air. Had the
dry bulb temperature been higher (say greater than 32C) the COP would also have been
much higher. Therefore, under extreme conditions a much higher COP than 8.6 is possible.
Output results were summarised in Table 5. The psychrometric chart for test condition iv is
plotted in Figure 7. In addition, a drop in humidity ratio (HR) was observed between o/a
and s/a. This was probably due to dehumidification occurring in the supply air.
ENERGY ESTIMATION
For the sake of modelling energy efficiency a typical Sydney city office of 1300 m2 was
considered. The total annual energy consumption of this office was determined by using the
NABERS (National Australian Building Energy Rating Scheme) office energy calculator.
A whole building rating was modelled.
Taking into account the assumed parameters and a 3 NABERS Energy star rating, the
typical Sydney office would consume 280,000 kWh of electricity per year. From
experience approximately 40 - 50% of this energy would be attributed to HVAC energy

usage, i.e. 112,000 to 140,000 kWh per year. The energy simulation was performed in two
instances, fresh air pre-conditioning and full air conditioning.
Relationships, parameters and assumptions for Energy Simulation
Energy savings due to heating:
.
Eheating = x m air x cp_air x HDH / COPVC_heating
(1)
Energy savings due to DICER mode cooling:

.
EDICER = m air x cp_water x CDHDICER x ( 1/ COPVC_heating 1/ COPDICER)
(2)
The total electrical energy consumption for a standard VC system is equal to:
Eelec_VC = Ecooling / COPVC_cooling + Eheating / COPVC_heating
(3)
The DICER electrical energy consumption may be found from the following relationship:
Eelec_DICER = Ecooling / COP DICER_cooling + [Eheating / COPVC_heating Edicerheating ] (4)
The energy savings of a DICER system compared to a standard VC system is given by:
Esavings = Eelec_VC - Eelec_DICER (5)
Peak electrical demand is given by the following relationship:
Pelec = Pr/COP
(6)
In addition, Carrier E20 energy simulation software was used to determine the average airconditioning load for a typical Sydney office. It was found that the cooling load was 150
W/m2 and the heating load was 120 W/m2.
The following assumptions were also made: Assumptions made for the conventional VC
system are listed as follows:
COPVC_cooling = 2.8 2 (from manufactures catalogues)
COPVC_heating = 3.2 (from manufactures catalogues)
Additional energy from air distribution and terminal reheat systems, estimated 30%
of VC system losses (estimated)
COP DICER_cooling =8.6 (from experimental results)
= 0.9 (effectiveness of sensible heat transfer of a DICER heat exchanger under
heating mode)
Minimum requirement for fresh air: 7.5 L/s.person
Total fresh air: 650 L/s = 0.78 kg/s
2
COP data derived from Temperzone Technical selection manual for A/C packaged units, which can be found at
www.temperzone.com.au.
10
Fresh Air Pre Conditioning Scenario

So how much energy does a DICER systems save compared to conventional vapour
compression systems?
A simple model was created which assisted with finding the answer to this question. The
DICER unit used in this simulation would only cater for the conditioning of fresh air. Data
from table 2 was taken into account.
Tab.2: Annual hours of heating and cooling and heating and cooling degree hours for
Sydney between 7am to 6pm (Giotis 2008).
Mode
Heating
Economy cycle
Hrs per year

2402
607
Degree Hours
29,247
ICER mode
585
7119
DICER mode
786
8932
Conditions
Tdb < 20 C
20 < Tdb< 22 C
Tdb > 22 C
& HR < 10 g/kg
Tdb > 22 C
& HR > 10 g/kg
Energy savings due to heating from sensible heat exchange between e/a and o/a, where the
heat exchanger of the DICER unit is utilised (from equation 1):
Eheating = 0.9 x 0.78 kg/s x 1.005 kJ/kgC x 29,247 C / 3.2 = 6,448 kWhe/yr
Energy savings due to DICER/ICER mode cooling (from equation 2):
EDICER = 0.78 x 1.005 x (7119 + 8932) ( 1/2.8 1/ 8.6) = 3,030 kWhe/yr
Therefore for outside air preconditioning the total annual energy savings, for a 1300 m2
office in Sydney, is:
Efresh_air 9,500 kWh/yr
Taking into account the energy consumption of a typical Sydney office the typical
percentage energy reduction would equate to:
A reduction of 3.4% of the total energy consumption for the office or
A reduction of 8.5% of the HVAC energy consumption
Full Air Pre Conditioning Scenario
Now let us take a scenario where a DICER unit is used to fully air-condition the above
office. It was found that the conventional VC system of the typical Sydney office would
consume approximately 110,000 kWh of electrical energy per year. Detailed analysis of
how this result was derived was tabulated in table 3 (equation 3 was used).
Now the saving for the DICER unit will be calculated. As calculated previously savings
from the dicer unit during heat mode are:
11

EDICER heating = 6,448 kWhr/yr
Therefore total electrical energy consumption is (from equation 4):
EDICER elec = 139,425 / 8.6 + 111,540 / 3.2 6,448 =
= 16,212 + 34,856 6,448 = 44,620 kWhe
Therefore the energy saved (from equation 5):
Esavings = Eelec - EDICER elec = 110,650 44,620 = 66,030 kWhe/yr
Which equates to 63 tonnes of CO2 per year. The financial savings equate to AUD $9,500
per year (taking into account current NSW energy prices at AUD $0.15/kWHe). This
represents a savings of 59% on HVAC energy consumption and 24% on total energy
consumption.
Tab.3: Total annual electricity energy consumption required for a conventional vapour
compression system to air condition a typical 1300 m2 office in Sydney. Equation 3 was
used to calculate energy consumption.
Cooling
Heating
Parameter
Winter
Autumn
Summer
Spring
Hrs/day
10
10
10
10
Days/wk
5
5
5
5
Wks/yr
13
13
13
13
Diversity
70%
40%
70%
40%
Subtotal seasonal hrs/yr
455
260
455
260
Total heater or cooling hrs/yr
715
715
Heating or cooling capacity [kW/m2]
0.15
0.12
Floor area [m2]
1300
Cooling or heating energy [kWhr/yr]
139,425
111,540
COP for convention VC system
2.8
3.2
Subtotal electrical energy
49,794
34,856
consumption [kWhe/yr]
Subtotal electrical energy
84,650
consumption [kWhe/yr]
Additional energy from AHUs &
26,000
terminal reheat systems [kWhe/yr]
Total electrical energy consumption
110,650
[kWhe/yr]
PEAK DEMAND REDUCTION
Peak demand reduction may be achieved. If we take into consideration the peak cooling
demand, which is 195 kWr (=0.150 kW/m2 x 1300 m2) for each type of system; the peak
electrical demand will equal the following (from equation 6):
For the conventional vapour compression system, the peak power demand is:
12

Pelec = 195 / 2.8 = 70 kWe
For the DICER system the peak power demand is:
PDICER = 195 / 8.6 = 23 kWe
Therefore, for the 1300 m2 typical Sydney office, the DICER system will reduce electrical
peak demand by 47 kW. This represents a reduction of 25%.
CONCLUSION
The tests have shown that the coefficient of performance of a DICER system is much
higher than that of conventional vapour compression air-conditioning systems for cooling.
The benefits are realised in energy reduction for both cooling and heating applications and
peak demand reduction.
In addition, indirect evaporative cooling systems overcome many of the limitations of
direct evaporative cooling systems. For example, when coupled with a small conventional
air conditioning system, indirect evaporative cooling may operate very efficiently in
climates with high humidity. This fact was also proven in this study, where the DICER unit
achieved surprisingly high coefficient of performance for the Sydney climate, which
generally is hot and humid during summer.
Moreover, DICER indirect evaporative cooling systems may effectively be coupled with
new types of HVAC systems, such as underfloor air distribution systems. For building
owners and building tenants, this combination could potentially provide substantial benefits
in indoor environment quality, energy efficiency, reduced environmental impact and
attractive financial returns.
Finally, when considering the benefits of the DICER system, as well as the scarcity and
rising cost of energy and environmental problems associated with the use of fossil fuels; the
DICER system has the potential to become the standard way for air conditioning of
buildings in the near future.
13
REFERENCES
Giotis, V. 2008. "Master of Engineering Thesis: Assessment of an Indirect Evaporative
Cooling Air-conditioning System, Installed at the University of Technology Sydney."
University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
Dartnall, W. J., McNab, J. and Adhikari, A. 2006. "Designing Functional Products in the
Best Interest Of The User With a Factor 10 Reduction in Life Cycle Cost Example: A
(Solar) Air Conditioning System." Proceedings of IMEC 2006 ASME International
Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition November 5 10, 2006, Chicago,
Illinois USA.
McGregor, P. and Standfield, G. 2006. "Going Beyond the Stars - William McCormack
Place And How It Can Be Improved To Five-Plus Stars." AIRAH Sustainability
Conference, Noosa, Queensland.
Pescod, D. and Prudhoe 1980. "Application of CSIRO plate heat exchangers for low energy
cooling of Telecom Buildings." The Institute of Engineers Australia. The Engineering
Conference Adelaide.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF PRESENTER
Vasilios Giotis
Vasilios Giotis is a senior sustainability engineer. He has a BE in mechanical engineering
and a ME in sustainable and renewable energy. Vasilios Giotis is currently working for
Blue Green Engineering (www.bluegreeneng.com).
Vasilios has worked both in Australia as well as internationally. He has had experience
with co-generation, photovoltaic, solar thermal and energy and water efficiency projects.
This paper was primarily based on Vasilioss ME thesis.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF CONTRIBUTORS
William John Darntall
W.J Dartnall is a lecturer at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Technology,
Sydney (UTS). He is also the Director of the Bachelor of Engineering Science (Aerospace
Operations) program.
He has a BSc (Maths and Computing) (1972), BE Mech equivalent (1974) from Curtin
University, a Teachers Higher Certificate (Western Australia TAFE-1982) and an ME
from the University of Technology Sydney.
Since joining UTS, John has been a consultant for AccessUTS, the University's consulting
body, working mainly on engineering design, machine design and failure analysis
associated with the manufacturing, air-conditioning and mining industries. John has wide
14

engineering interests and is particularly interested in engineering innovation (he holds 12
technical patents).
W. J. Dartnall made a significant contribution to this study.
Alex Revel
Alex Revel started his career as technical assistant with Ultimo TAFE. He later transferred
to NSWIT and graduated as a Mechanical Engineer. He worked in Fluid Mechanics and
Machines at UTS until retirement in 2001.
A. Revel made a significant contribution to this study.
15

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PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE

COOLING AIR-CONDITIONING SYSTEM, INSTALLED AT THE

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

m air: mass flow rate of air

NABERS: National Australian Building Energy Rating Scheme

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

http://www.idalex.com, Idalex Technologies Inc. website.

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

Dual Indirect Cycle Energy Recovery (DICER) Systems

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

25-28 November 2008 Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

Eheating = x m air x cp_air x HDH / COPVC_heating

Energy savings due to DICER mode cooling:

EDICER = m air x cp_water x CDHDICER x ( 1/ COPVC_heating 1/ COPDICER)

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

Fresh Air Pre Conditioning Scenario

Hrs per year

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

V. Giotis, A. Revel, J. W. Dartnall

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