The indirect evaporative cooler (IEC) is deemed an effective and sustainable alternative to existing mechanical vapor compression (MVC) chillers in cooling applications. However, IEC is a passive cooler that has no effective control over the supply air temperature and humidity. Also, the performance of IEC degrades severely when the humidity of the air is high. To overcome these limitations, we investigate a hybrid process that connects IEC and MVC in tandem. The outdoor air is firstly pre-cooled in the IEC by recovering energy from the room exhaust air, and then it is further processed to the desired condition using MVC. Such a hybrid IEC-MVC process benefits from IEC’s high energy efficiency and MVC’s capability of humidity and temperature control. A pilot IEC unit with the cross-flow configuration is firstly constructed and tested under assorted outdoor air conditions. Employing the room exhaust air as the working air in the wet channels, the IEC simultaneously cools and dehumidifies the outdoor air. Under the operating conditions considered, the outdoor air temperature can be reduced by 6–15 °C, and the humidity ratio drops by 0.5–4 g/kg. The coefficient of performance (COP) for IEC is 6–16, leading to an overall COP of 4.96–6.05 for the hybrid IEC-MVC process. Compared with a standalone MVC, the electricity consumption can be reduced by 19–135%.

间接蒸发冷却器 (IEC) 被认为是冷却应用中现有机械蒸汽压缩 (MVC) 冷却器的有效且可持续的替代方案。然而，IEC 是一种被动冷却器，无法有效控制送风温度和湿度。此外，当空气湿度高时，IEC 的性能会严重下降。为了克服这些限制，我们研究了一种将 IEC 和 MVC 串联起来的混合过程。室外空气首先在 IEC 中通过从室内废气中回收能量进行预冷，然后使用 MVC 进一步处理到所需条件。这种混合 IEC-MVC 工艺受益于 IEC 的高能效和 MVC 的湿度和温度控制能力。具有交叉流配置的试点 IEC 单元首先在各种室外空气条件下构建和测试。IEC 利用室内废气作为湿通道中的工作空气，同时对室外空气进行冷却和除湿。在考虑的工况下，室外空气温度可降低6-15℃，湿度比降低0.5-4g/kg。IEC 的性能系数 (COP) 为 6–16，因此混合 IEC-MVC 工艺的整体 COP 为 4.96–6.05。与独立的MVC相比，电力消耗可以减少19-135%。室外空气温度可降低6-15°C，湿度比降低0.5-4 g/kg。IEC 的性能系数 (COP) 为 6–16，因此混合 IEC-MVC 工艺的整体 COP 为 4.96–6.05。与独立的MVC相比，电力消耗可以减少19-135%。室外空气温度可降低6-15°C，湿度比降低0.5-4 g/kg。IEC 的性能系数 (COP) 为 6–16，因此混合 IEC-MVC 工艺的整体 COP 为 4.96–6.05。与独立的MVC相比，电力消耗可以减少19-135%。