Building cooling is achieved by the extensive use of air conditioners. These mechanically driven devices provide thermal comfort by deteriorating the environment with increased energy consumption. To alleviate environmental degradation, the need for energy-efficient and eco-friendly systems for building cooling becomes essential. Evaporative cooling, a typical passive cooling technique, could meet the energy demand and global climatic issues. In conventional direct evaporative cooling, the sensible cooling of air is achieved by continuous water circulation over the cooling pad. Despite its simple operation, the problem of the pad material and water stagnation in the sump limits its usage. Moreover, the continuous pump operation increases the electrical energy consumption. In the present work, a porous material is used as the water storage medium eliminating the pump and sump. An experimental investigation is performed on the developed setup, and experiments are conducted for three different RH conditions (low, medium, and high) to assess the porous material’s ability as a cooling medium. Cooling capacity, effectiveness, and water evaporation rate are determined to evaluate the direct evaporative cooling system’s performance. The material that replaces the pump and sump is vermicompost due to its excellent water retention characteristics. There is no necessity to change material each time. However, the vermicompost is regenerated at the end of the experiment using a solar dryer. The passing of hot air over the vermicompost also avoids mould spores’ transmission, if any, present through the air. The results show that vermicompost produces an average temperature drop of 9.5°C during low RH conditions. Besides, vermicompost helps with the energy savings of 21.7% by eliminating the pump. Hence, vermicompost could be an alternate energy-efficient material to replace the pad-pump-sump of the conventional evaporative cooling system. Further, if this direct evaporative cooling system is integrated with solar-assisted drying of vermicompost, it is possible to provide a clean and sustainable indoor environment. This system could pave the way for year-round thermal management of building cooling applications with environmental safety.

中文翻译：

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太阳能辅助干燥机全年热管理直接蒸发冷却系统的实验研究

通过广泛使用空调来实现建筑物的制冷。这些机械驱动的设备通过使环境恶化并增加能耗来提供热舒适性。为了减轻环境恶化，对用于建筑物冷却的节能和环保系统的需求变得至关重要。蒸发冷却是一种典型的被动冷却技术，可以满足能源需求和全球气候问题。在常规的直接蒸发冷却中，通过在冷却垫上进行连续的水循环来实现对空气的显着冷却。尽管其操作简单，但垫料和集水槽中的水停滞的问题限制了它的使用。此外，连续的泵操作增加了电能消耗。在目前的工作中，多孔材料用作储水介质，省去了泵和集水槽。在开发的装置上进行了实验研究，并针对三种不同的RH条件（低，中和高）进行了实验，以评估多孔材料作为冷却介质的能力。确定冷却能力，效率和水蒸发速率以评估直接蒸发冷却系统的性能。由于其出色的保水特性，可替代泵和集水槽的材料是ver石。不必每次都更换材料。但是，在实验结束时，将使用太阳能干燥器对the石柱进行再生。热空气通过ver孔也可以避免霉菌孢子通过空气传播（如果有的话）。结果表明，在低RH条件下，vercompost的平均温度下降9.5°C。此外，vermicompost通过消除泵的使用，可帮助节省21.7％的能源。因此，vercompost可以是替代节能材料的替代传统蒸发式冷却系统的垫式泵。此外，如果将这种直接蒸发冷却系统与mi米的太阳能辅助干燥集成在一起，则可以提供一个清洁，可持续的室内环境。该系统可以为具有环境安全性的建筑物制冷应用程序全年进行热管理铺平道路。Vermicompost可能是替代节能产品的一种材料，以取代传统的蒸发冷却系统的垫式水泵。此外，如果将这种直接蒸发冷却系统与mi米的太阳能辅助干燥集成在一起，则可以提供一个清洁，可持续的室内环境。该系统可以为具有环境安全性的建筑物制冷应用程序全年进行热管理铺平道路。Vermicompost可能是替代节能材料的材料，以取代传统的蒸发冷却系统的垫式水泵。此外，如果将这种直接蒸发冷却系统与mi米的太阳能辅助干燥集成在一起，则可以提供一个清洁，可持续的室内环境。该系统可以为具有环境安全性的建筑物制冷应用程序全年进行热管理铺平道路。