The wettability characteristic of wet channels plays an important role in cooling performance of an indirect evaporative cooler (IEC). To improve its wettability, porous ceramic is used as a novel material for IEC. The porous structure provides hydrophilic feature and water storage capacity. Therefore, the wet-bulb efficiency of the cooler can be improved because of higher wettability and larger specific surface area. This paper presents a theoretical and experimental study on a tubular porous ceramic IEC. The mathematical model of heat and mass transfer was established and numerically solved to evaluate its cooling performance. The influence of various structural parameters and operational parameters of porous ceramic IEC are analyzed, including the tube length, tube spacing, wall thickness, wet-bulb temperature depression and working/output air volume ratio. The experimental study is also carried out, on one hand, to validate the numerical model; and on the other hand, to optimize the working air/product air flow ratio. The results indicate the optimal tube spacing is 40 mm. The tube length plays a significant effect on the cooling performance of IEC when it is less than 1.5m. Experimental study shows the optimal performance of porous ceramic IEC prototype is achieved under the product air velocity of 3.4 m/s, working air velocity of 4.0 m/s and the working air/product air volume ratio of 0.9.

湿通道的可湿性在间接蒸发式冷却器（IEC）的冷却性能中起着重要作用。为了提高其润湿性，多孔陶瓷被用作IEC的新型材料。多孔结构提供亲水特征和储水能力。因此，由于较高的润湿性和较大的比表面积，因此可以提高冷却器的湿球效率。本文介绍了管状多孔陶瓷IEC的理论和实验研究。建立了传热传质的数学模型，并对其进行了数值求解，以评估其冷却性能。分析了多孔陶瓷IEC的各种结构参数和操作参数的影响，包括管长，管间距，壁厚，湿球温度降低和工作/输出空气量比。一方面，还进行了实验研究，以验证数值模型；另一方面，优化工作空气/产品空气的流量比。结果表明最佳管间距为40 mm。当长度小于1.5m时，管长会对IEC的冷却性能产生重大影响。实验研究表明，在3.4 m / s的产品风速，4.0 m / s的工作风速和0.9的工作风/产品风量比下，多孔陶瓷IEC原型的最佳性能得以实现。当长度小于1.5m时，管长会对IEC的冷却性能产生重大影响。实验研究表明，在3.4 m / s的产品风速，4.0 m / s的工作风速和0.9的工作风/产品风量比下，多孔陶瓷IEC原型的最佳性能得以实现。当长度小于1.5m时，管长会对IEC的冷却性能产生重大影响。实验研究表明，在3.4 m / s的产品风速，4.0 m / s的工作风速和0.9的工作风/产品风量比下，多孔陶瓷IEC原型的最佳性能得以实现。