Evaluation of Evaporative Cooling for Heat Transfer in the Condenser of Window-Air Conditioners

There is a demand for reduced power consumption in the vapor compression refrigeration cycle. Coefficient of performance of window-air conditioners considerably decreases and power consumption increases under very hot conditions. These problems have encouragecl studies aimed at improving the performance of window-air-conditioners by enhancing the heat transfer rate in the condenser. In this article, a new design for application of evaporative cooling in the condenser of window-air conditioners is introduced and experimentally investigated. In this design, two pads equipped with a water injection system are located on both sides of the air-conditioner to cool down the air flow passing over the condenser. The experimental results showed that thermodynamic characteristics of the system considerably improved while power consumption decreased by about 15% and the coefficient of performance increased by about 55%.