Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483

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Thermal Science and Engineering Progress

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tsep

Thermal analysis of a dual-purpose cooler used for air cooling and mild T
refrigeration
⁎
Aneesh Somwanshia, Prabhat Ranjan Mishrab, , Vivek Kumar Gabab
a
Department of Mechanical Engg, MATS University, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India
b
Department of Mechanical Engg., National Institute of Technology, Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The present paper addresses an application of utilizing cooled tank water stored in a desert cooler. The desert
Dual-purpose cooler cooler which is primarily used for air cooling can be utilized for mild refrigeration during summer months. Space
Mild refrigeration inside a box attached in the cooler tank gets cooled due to heat transfer to tank water and can be utilized for
Air cooling refrigeration. A mathematical model of the proposed design has been developed and experimentally validated
Degree of cooling
considering the cooling load of 5 W, 10 W and 15 W. It is seen that experimental values are in agreement with
theoretical values, the values of correlation coefficient “r” is in between 0.91 and 0.99. Thermal performance of
the proposed cooler has been computed for three different climatic conditions viz. hot and dry, composite and
warm and humid climates in India. The results show that the cooler is performing reasonably well in a hot and
dry and composite climate. The maximum degree of cooling of air and box is 7.6 °C and 13.9 °C respectively in
the month of May for hot and dry climate of Jodhpur considering a cooling load of 5 W. The coefficient of
performance (COP) is maximum between 174 and 112 for the climate of Jodhpur.

1. Introduction
Evaporative cooling has been practiced as means of thermal comfort
since early times but has not been very popular, since commercial re-
frigeration/air conditioning became reliable and to some extent af-
fordable. The ineffectiveness of evaporative air conditioning during the
rainy season is another reason for the decline in popularity. However,
the rising cost of electrical power has given a boost to the serious ex-
ploitation of evaporative cooling to a maximum extent and thereby
saving electrical energy and cost.
The desert cooler is one of the commonly used devices utilized for
air cooling during summers. The most common desert cooler consists of
a cubical box of sheet metal or plastic containing large vertical filter
(Pads) in their walls, consisting of very wettable porous materials,
which are kept moist by water dripped continuously into their upper
edges. An electric motor driven fan within the box draw air in through
cooler pads. Air comes in contact with water in the cooler pads gets
cooled and humidified. The cooled humidified air (washed air) is uti-
lized for room cooling.
Water is continuously pumped into the cooler pad by a pump placed
in the cooler tank. Air and water come in contact thus loses sensible
heat and are cooled by its conversion to latent heat. Water is evaporated
to cool the water as well as the air. The cooled air is utilized for room
cooling but the cooled water stored in the tank is not generally utilized.
Sodha and Somwanshi [1] proposed to utilize the coolness stored in
tank water to cool extraneous objects. They developed a mathematical
model incorporating the effect of heat addition to tank water, they
concluded that utilization of tank water externally cannot appreciably
affect the performance of air cooling. Somwanashi and Tiwari [2]
proposed to utilize cooled tank water to enhance the distillate output of
single slope solar still; they reported enhancement of daily distillate
output up to 56% with the flow of cooled water over glass cover of still.
Somwanshi and Sarkar [3] proposed a design of desert cooler used for
air and water cooling. They proposed a mathematical model and ex-
perimentally validated it for the climate of Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
In the present paper, the authors explored another application of
utilizing the cooled tank water. The coolness of the tank water can be
utilized for mild refrigeration. Desert cooler which is primarily used for
the space cooling serves the dual purpose of space cooling as well as
refrigeration.
The utilization of evaporative cooling is an effective method of
storage of fruits and vegetables of moderate respiration rates, since this
requires lower temperatures and high humidity. Some works have been
carried over in the past to explore the possibility of evaporative cooling
systems for the preservation of vegetables and fruits [4–12]. Previous
works have been limited up-to-the designing of evaporative cooled

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: prabhat.rjnmishra@gmail.com (P. Ranjan Mishra).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsep.2020.100483
Received 26 April 2019; Received in revised form 18 January 2020; Accepted 21 January 2020
2451-9049/ © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A. Somwanshi, et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483

Nomenclature Tt Tank water temperature(°C)

U Overall heat transfer coefficient between box and water
Ap Total wetted surface area (m2 ) (Wm−2 °C−1)
Ah Area of horizontal face of box (m2 ) va Velocity of air in to the cooler pad (ms−1)
As Area of vertical face of box (m2 ) v0 Volume occupied by evaporative pad (m3)
Ab Surface area box (m2 ) xo Thickness of pad (m)
cw Specific heat of water (JKg−1 °C−1) yo Breadth of pad (m)
cpa Specific heat of air at constant pressure (JKg−1 °C−1) zo Height of pad (m)
Dab Mass diffusivity (m2s−1) ΔP Pressure drop in pad (N m2 )
Fp Packing fraction of the pad (m2m−3 )
L′ Latent heat of vaporization (kJkg−1) Greek letters
Mt Mass of tank water (kg )
Mw Molar mass of water (kgmol−1) α′ Thermal diffusivity (m2s−1)
Ma Molar mass of water (kgmol−1) ρa Density of air (kgm−3)
ṁ c Mass flow rate of water flowing over pad (kgs−1) γ Relative humidity of air
ṁ m Mass of make- up water added to cooler tank per second
(kgs−1) Dimensionless numbers
Pa Saturated water vapor pressure in air (Nm−2 )
Pw Saturated water vapor pressure in air at the temperature of Nu Nusselt Number
water (Nm−2 ) Re Reynolds Number
PT Total pressure of air-vapor mixture (Nm−2 ) Pr Prandt Number
Qḣ Rate of heat given by refrigeration box (load) (W)
Le Lewis Number
Qė Rate of heat removed from tank water (W)
Qm ̇ Rate of heat given by make-up water (W)
̇ Constants
Qca Rate of heat extracted from air (W)
Qcḃ Rate of heat extracted from storage box (W) hc Fp
Pf Power consumption by fan (W) α= ρa va cpa
PP Power consumption by pump (W) ṁ c
N1 = h Fwxwy
c p o o
Tai Temperature of air into the cooler pad (inlet air) (°C)
K1 = {1 − exp(−αx o)} αx o
Tae Temperature of air coming out of the cooler (exit air) (°C)
A = R1 Cn N1
Tbi Initial temperature of storage box (°C)
B = (R2 Cn − K1) N1
〈Ta〉 Average exit air temperature (°C)
C = [Cn R1 γTai 2 + Tai (K1 − γCn R2) + Cn R3 (γ − 1)] N1
Twi Temperature of water into the cooler pad (inlet water) (°C) [T − (B 2A) − C ]
β = [Twi − (B 2A) + C1 ]
Twe Temperature of water coming out of the pad (pad exit wi 1

water) (°C) C1 = (B 2A)2 + C A

Mw L
〈Tw〉 Average water temperature into cooler pad (°C) Cn = 2 3
RTρa cpa Le
Th Temperature inside refrigeration box (enclosure tempera-
ture) (°C)

chambers for the preserving fruits/vegetables. The tests were conducted
to determine the storage life of preserved fruits/vegetables inside the
chamber. Unlike previous works, we have developed a dual-purpose
cooler used for space cooling and refrigeration. The proposed design of
cooler has been developed with very little modifications in the existing
design of conventional air coolers. A rectangular box made of mild steel
is attached in a cooler tank surrounded by tank water. As the tank water
is continuously cooled due to evaporation in cooler pads, the space
inside the box will be indirectly cooled and can be used as storage
system. The storage system can be used for storing vegetables, fruits,
eatables, medicines, etc. A mathematical model of cooler incorporating
the effect of adding refrigeration load inside the storage box

Fig. 1. Photograph of actual setup.

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A. Somwanshi, et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483

(refrigeration box) has been developed and experimentally validated in Ux = U (2Ah + 3As ) , one of the vertical faces is insulated and ex-
the climate of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India (21.2514° N, 81.6296° E). posed to the atmosphere, door of a refrigerator box. (Fig. 3)
The model will be helpful in determining the temperature inside the Here, Ah and As are the area of horizontal and vertical faces of the
storage box (preservation temperature) with and without load, exit air box. U is the overall heat transfer coefficients between box and water,
temperature and tank water temperature. To simulate the respiratory Referring to Fig. (5), the Energy balance of cooler tank is,
cooling load an electric bulb of 5 W, 10 W, 15 W is fixed (one bulb at a
dTt
time) inside the box. Pictorial representation and schematic arrange- Mt c w = Qh + Qm − Qe
dt (5)
ment of the experiment are shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
The performance of the cooler is computed for three different cli- ̇ is the rate of heat added by make-up water,
Qm
matic conditions found in India viz. hot and dry climate, composite
climate and warm and humid climate. The three different cities corre- ̇ = ṁ m c w (Ta − Tt )
Qm (6)
sponding to the different climates are considered for computations.
Average monthly temperature and humidity are considered. The ṁ m is the mass of make-up water added per sec. Ta is the initial make-
average monthly preservation temperature (storage temperature) with up water temperature assumed equal to ambient Ta = Tai
load and exit air temperature is computed. The degree of cooling of air Qė is the rate of heat transfer from tank water through cooler pads,
(Tai − Tae ) and storage box (Tai − Th ) has been computed for different
climatic conditions. The initial box temperature (preservation tem- Qė = ṁ c c w (Tpi − Twe ) (7)
perature) is assumed equal to ambient temperature. For numerical
computations, a mid-size cooler of tank capacity 97L is considered. The ṁ c is the mass flow rate of tank water flowing into the cooler pads, Twi is
design and dimensions of the proposed multi-utility cooler is shown in the temperature of tank water into the cooler pad (at top of cooler pad)
Fig. 3. and Twe is the temperature of water at the exit of the cooler pad.
Neglecting pumping and pipe loses inlet water temperature in the pad
2. Mathematical analysis will be equal to the temperature of tank water Tt = Twi .
From Eqs. (2), 3, 4 and 5,
2.1. Exit air and water temperature dTt
Mt c w = Qḣ + ṁ m c w (Ta − Tt ) − ṁ c c w (Twi − Twe )
dt (8)
Following Sodha and Somwanshi [1] and Somwanshi and Sarkar
[3], the temperature of exit water and average of exit air of the cooler dTt
pad (Fig. 4) is given by,Fig. 5 + K1 Tt = K2
dt
(1 + β exp(− 2AC1 z o) ⎫
Twe = (B 2A) + C1 ⎧ ṁ m c w
⎨
⎩ (1 − β exp(− 2AC1 z o) ⎬
⎭ (1) K1 =
Mt c w
〈Tae〉 = exp(−αx o){Tai − 〈Tw〉 } + 〈Tw〉 (2)
Qḣ + ṁ m c w Ta + ṁ c c w Twe − ṁ c c w Twi
〈Tw〉 is the average temperature of water and it is given by, K2 =
Mt c w
B 1 exp(2AC1 z 0) − β ⎫
〈Tw〉 = + ln ⎧ − C1
2A Az 0 ⎨ ⎩ 1−β ⎬
⎭ (3) K2
Tt = {1 − exp(−K1 t )} + Tt 0 exp(−K1 t )
K1 (9)
cpa is the specific heat of moist air given by Morway and Gvozdenac
[13], By putting the value of Tt , Eq. (1), the temperature inside the re-
cpa = [(1.0029 + 5.4 × 10−5T ) + ξ (1.856 + 2.0 × 10−4T )]kJ kgK frigeration box is given by,

ξ is the absolute humidity of air, Qḣ

Th (t ) = + Tt (t )
Ux (10)
Pa Ma
ρa =
RT
L Mw 1
Cn = cpa Ma PT Le 2 3
here Pa = PT
α′
Le =
Dab
α′ is the thermal diffusivity and Dab is the diffusion coefficient of
water vapor in the air and it is given by Boltz and Tuwe [14],
Dab = −2.775x10−6 + 4.479x10−8T + 1.656x10−10T 2
here T is the temperature in Kelvin.

2.2. Box temperature

Rate of heat given by refrigeration box (Load) will be,

Qḣ = Ux [Th (t ) − Tt (t )] (4)
Qḣ is the rate of heat transfer from refrigeration box to surroundings, Th
and Tt are the temperature inside the box and surrounding tank water
temperature, Ux is given by,
Ux = U (2Ah + 4As ) , when the rectangular box is completely sur-
rounded by tank water (Experiment) Fig. 2. Schematic arrangement of the experiment.

3
A. Somwanshi, et al.
Fig. 3. Proposed design of multi-utility cooler.
Fig. 4. Pad Profile.
3. Experimental validation
To validate the proposed mathematical model experiments have
been done for the climate of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India (21.2514° N,
81.6296° E) for two consecutive days (21/03/2018, 22/03/2018)
during summer. A rectangular box made of mild steel of dimensions
(30 cm × 35 cm × 10 cm) is placed inside cooler tank of dimensions
4
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483
(74 cm × 74 cm × 17 cm). To simulate refrigeration load (respiratory
load) bulb of power 5 W/10 W/15 W is fixed inside a rectangular box.
The box is made completely leak-proof from all sides as it is completely
surrounded by tank water. Schematic arrangement of setup is shown in
Fig. 2.
The cooler was kept in a small room with an exit air duct going out
of the room to provide stable conditions inside the room. The inlet air to
the cooler was drawn in from an open window opposite to the cooler.
To determine the temperature and humidity of the inlet air, tempera-
ture sensors RTD accuracy 0.2% to 1% and digital hygrometer
(TempTec) accuracy 5% are fixed at three different points inside the
room. The temperature of exit air was measured by two temperature
sensors (RTD) kept in the exit air duct. Inlet air velocity was measured
by an electronic digital anemometer model of (Lutron AM-4201) with
an accuracy of 5%. The velocity of the air incident on the pad is used for
computing convective heat transfer coefficient ‘hc ’ between pad and air.
Two RTD temperature sensors are kept inside the refrigeration box
to measure the temperature of the enclosure. In order to measure the
temperature of tank water, two RTD are kept in the cooler tank. The
cooler is enclosed by evaporating pads of dimensions
(0.50 × 0.45 × 0.10)m3 from three sides. The front side (fourth side) is
provided with an exit air duct with a fan (Crompton, 1400 RPM),
connected to draw in outside air (warm air) into the cooler pad. A pump
(Bajaj, 40 W) is placed inside the cooler tank
(0.74 m × 0.74 m × 0.17 m) to feed water from the tank into the
cooler pads.
The pad is made of honeycomb cellulose paper with an evaporating
surface of 370m2m−3 (curtsey manufacturer) and convective heat
transfer coefficient hc given by Camargo et al. [15],
l 0.12
Nu = 0.10 ⎛ e ⎞ Re0.8Pr1 3
⎝l⎠
vo
le (Chartersticlength) =
Ap
Here, le is the characteristic length, l is the thickness of the pad
which is equal to x 0 , ratio vo Ap is the ratio between volume occupied by
pad material and total wetted surface area (m3 m2 ).
The mass flow rate of water flowing through pads is computed by
measuring the time taken to fill the tank of known volume. Tank water
temperature, exit air temperature and preservation temperature (inside
box) with load is recorded at the time interval of 5 min. The cooler is
allowed to run for 5 min only through the pump to keep pads uniformly
wet before starting the experiment. Initial tank water temperature, air
temperature, and preservation temperature is recorded (at t = 0).
Computed and recorded preservation temperature, tank water tem-
perature and exit air temperature at three different loads 5 W, 10 W and
15 W are shown in Tables 2–4. Relevant cooler parameters used for
numerical computations are shown in Table 1.
Tables 2–4 shows that as the temperature of water decreases the
space inside box also decreases due to heat transfer from box to sur-
rounding water. The rate of cooling is more in the beginning, the
temperature inside box becomes almost constant within 30 to 35 min.
The degree of cooling depends on the rate of cooling of tank water due
to evaporation in cooling pads. It is influenced by the climatic para-
meters (outside temperature, relative humidity) as well as convective
heat transfer coefficient between pad material and air.
3.1. Computation of root mean square of percentage deviation(e) and
coefficient of correlation (r)
Closeness of the theoretical values to the observed values can be
presented in terms of root mean square of percent deviation (e) and it is
given by Jain and Tiwari [16],
A. Somwanshi, et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483

Fig. 5. Energy balance of cooler tank.

∑ (ei )2 Table 2
e= Theoretical and experimental temperature inside box, tank water and exit air
n (11)
with 5 W Load (Ta = 30.6 °C , γ = 38%, va = 1.5 m s ).
Xpre (i) − Xexp t (i) ⎤
ei = ⎡ × 100 Time (m) Box temperature (°C) Tank water Exit air temperature
⎢ Xpre (i) ⎥ temperature (°C) (°C)
⎣ ⎦ (12)
The relationship between the theoretical values and experimental Ex. Th. Ex. Th. Ex. Th.
values is presented by a coefficient called as coefficient of correlation
0 29.8 29.8 30.5 30.5 30.6 30.6
(r). The experimental and theoretical values are said to be in a strong 5 28.4 27.6 27.5 26.3 26.2 26.2
correlation, if the value of r is close to 1. The coefficient of correlation 10 26.5 25.2 24.4 23.9 25.7 25.8
can be evaluated with the help of the following expression as given by 15 24.3 23.8 22.4 22.5 25.4 25.6
Jain and Tiwari [16], 20 23.2 23.0 21.6 21.7 24.9 25.5
25 22.8 22.5 21.5 21.2 24.7 25.4
N ∑ Xpre Xexp − (∑ Xpre )(∑ Xexp ) 30 22.6 22.2 20.6 20.9 24.8 25.3
r= 35 21.8 22.0 20.5 20.8 24.6 25.3
N ∑ Xexp2 − (∑ Xexp )2 N ∑ Xpre 2 − (∑ Xpre )2 (13) 40 21.6 22.0 20.5 20.7 24.6 25.2
45 21.5 21.9 20.4 20.6 24.7 25.2
Here N is the number of observations. 50 21.4 21.8 20.5 20.5 24.6 25.2
The values of root mean square of percentage deviation (e) and e 2.44 3.17 1.90
coefficient of correlation (r) is determined and shown in Tables 1–3. It r 0.98 0.97 0.96
is seen that the value of “e” is in between 1.72 and 2.68 and the value of
coefficient of correlation “r” is in between 0.91 and 0.99 with degree of
freedom as 11. attached in the cooler tank by rivets. A support is given to the other side
of the box to keep the box upright when loaded from inside. A door is
provided in front of the box to load and unload box when needed. The
4. Design and description of the proposed cooler
storage box is surrounded by tank water from all the faces except the
front face. The box is made completely leak-proof to avoid any water
The design of the proposed cooler is shown in Fig. 3. It consists of
leakage into the box. The tank is made insulated from all sides to
the conventional box type of desert cooler made up of mild steel sheets,
prevent heat loss to the surroundings. Presently we considered the ca-
enclosed by cooler pads (70 cm × 70 cm × 10 cm) made of honeycomb
pacity of storage box as (0.05 m3). Although the capacity of the storage
material on three different sides. The front side is provided with an
box will depend on the size of the cooler tank, one can design ac-
exhaust fan (1400 rpm) which draws in hot air into the cooler pads. A
cordingly looking at the dimensions of the cooler tank.
pump (40 W) is placed inside the cooler tank of dimension
(70 cm × 70 cm × 30 cm) to pump water into the distribution system
provided in the top from which water is fed into the cooler pads. A
rectangular-shaped box made of mild steel (50 cm × 50 cm × 20 cm) is

Table 1
Numerical parameters used for computations.
x 0 = 0.1m cw = 4200J kgK U = 11.3J kgK va = 1.5m s Fp = 370m2 m3

y0 = 0.45m ca = 1.0J kgK Mt = 82.6kg Ah = 0.1050m2 Mw = 18

z 0 = 0.5m ṁ c = 0.116kg s ṁ m = 10kg h As = 0.03m2 Ma = 29
PT = 1.013 × 105N m2 L′ = 200KJ kg

5
A. Somwanshi, et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483

Table 3 6. Computation of coefficient of performance (COP) of the cooler

Theoretical and experimental temperature inside box, tank water and exit air
with 10 W Load (Ta = 31.7 °C , γ = 42%, va = 1.5 m s ). The coefficient of performance (COP) will be defined as the ratio
Time (m) Box temperature (°C) Tank water Exit air temperature between the total rate of heat energy extracted from air and storage box
temperature (°C) (°C) (cooling effect) and the total power consumption of fan and pump

Ex. Th. Ex. Th. Ex. Th. Qċ

COP =
P (14)
0 31.4 31.4 32.6 32.6 31.8 31.8
5 30.5 30.9 27.9 28.3 28.1 27.5 The total cooling effect will be given by,
10 29.3 28.3 25.5 25.7 26.9 27.2
15 27.2 26.9 24.0 24.3 26.7 27.0 Qċ = Qca
̇ + Qcb
̇ (15)
20 25.8 26.0 23.8 23.4 26.5 26.9
̇ and Qcb
Qca ̇ are the cooling effect of air and storage box and they are
25 25.5 25.5 23.4 22.9 26.4 26.8
30 25.3 25.2 23.0 22.6 26.3 26.7 given by,
35 25.0 25.0 22.9 22.5 26.4 26.7
40 24.8 25.1 22.7 22.4 26.3 26.7 ̇ = ṁ a cpa (Tai − Tae )
Qca (16)
45 24.5 24.9 22.6 22.3 26.3 26.7
50 24.5 24.8 22.7 22.3 26.3 26.7 ṁ a is the mass flow rate of air flowing through the cooler pad and it is
e 2.10 2.06 1.72 given by,
r 0.98 0.99 0.98
ṁ a = ρa va Ap (17)

̇ = U . Ab (Tbi − Th)
Qcb (18)
Table 4
Theoretical and experimental temperature inside box, tank water and exit air
Here, Ab is the surface area of the box surrounded by tank water Tbi
with 15 W load (Ta = 30.4 °C , γ = 49%, va = 1.5 m s ).
is the initial box temperature it is assumed equal to ambient tempera-
Time (m) Box temperature (°C) Tank water Exit air temperature ture for numerical computations.
temperature (°C) (°C)
The total power consumption will be given by,
Ex. Th. Ex. Th. Ex. Th. P = Pp + Pf (19)
0 32.3 32.3 30.0 30.0 30.4 30.4 Pf and Pp are the fan power consumption and the power consumed by
5 30.9 30.8 27.5 26.9 27.2 26.9
pump, and they are given by laknizi et al. [17],
10 29.5 29.0 25.7 25.1 26.9 26.6
15 28.3 27.9 24.5 24.0 26.3 26.5 ṁ a ΔP
20 27.6 27.3 24.1 23.4 26.0 26.4 Pf =
ρa ηf ηm (20)
25 26.5 27.0 23.6 23.1 25.6 26.3
30 26.3 26.8 23.2 22.9 25.7 26.3 2
35 26.2 26.7 23.1 22.8 25.7 26.3 Here, ΔP is the pressure drop (N/m ) in the cooler pad for cellulose
40 26.0 26.6 22.9 22.7 25.6 26.3 pad. The value of ΔP at inlet velocity 1.5 m/s is 20.4 N/m2 as given by
45 26.0 26.5 22.8 22.6 25.8 26.2 laknizi et al. [17] and Malli et al. [18]. The fan and motor efficiency ηf ,
50 26.1 26.5 22.7 22.6 25.7 26.2 ηf is taken as 0.70. The power consumption by pump Pp is taken as 5%
e 2.62 2.27 2.68
of the fan power consumption is given by laknizi et al. [17].
r 0.97 0.99 0.91
The COP of the proposed cooler is computed for the different cli-
matic zones considering the load of 5 W, and shown in Fig. 8. The figure
5. Computation of cooler performance for different climates. shows that the COP is maximum ranges between 174 and 112 for the
hot and dry climate of Jodhpur and minimum between 78 and 37 for
The performance of the cooler is numerically computed for three moderate climate of Kolkata. The COP for the composite climate of
different climatic zones hot and dry climate, composite climate and Delhi is in between 160 and 121.
moderate climate. In present work, for numerical computations, we
have considered a mid-size cooler discussed above (Fig. 3). The di-
mensions of the storage box considered is the same as discussed earlier.
Size of the cooler pads considered for computations is taken as
(70 cm × 70 cm × 10 cm). The packing factor of the pad material is
taken as 400 m2/m3. The other relevant parameters for numerical
computations are the same as given in Table 1.
The monthly average of ambient temperature and relative humidity
is considered for computing average preservation temperature and exit
air temperature with load (5 W, 10 W, 15 W) for different climatic
zones. It is seen from Figs. 6 and 7 and Table 5, that the cooler is
performing reasonably well for the hot and dry climate of Jodhpur and
the composite climate of Delhi that the average degree of cooling of the
box for summer is 11.7 °C, 10.5 °C, and 10.1 °C for the hot and dry
climate of Jodhpur considering refrigeration load of 5 W, 10 W and
15 W, respectively. For the composite climate of Delhi, the average
degree of cooling of the box is 10.5 °C, 9.8 °C, and 9.2 °C at different
loads. For humid climate, the degree of cooling is less due to high re-
lative humidity. The average degree of cooling of air remains the same
at different loads. The average degree of cooling of air is 6.5 °C, 6.0 °C
and 3.0 °C for the climate of Jodhpur, Delhi and Kolkata, respectively.
Fig. 6. Average degree of cooling of box for summer.

6
A. Somwanshi, et al. Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483

Fig. 7. Average degree of cooling of air for summer.

7. Result and conclusions as 11 is between 0.91 and 0.99.

In this paper a new design of a dual-purpose cooler utilized for air
cooling and refrigeration has been proposed. The mathematical model
of the proposed design is developed and experimentally validated for
the climate of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India (21.2514° N, 81.6296° E).
The cooling loads considered are 5 W, 10 W and 15 W, respectively. It is
seen that the rate of cooling of water and the box is more in the be-
ginning and it becomes almost constant within 30 to 35 min. The ex-
perimental values seem to be reasonably close to the theoretical values,
the value of the coefficient of correlation “r” for the degree of freedom
Numerical computations have been made to predict the perfor-
mance of cooler during summer for different climatic conditions in
India. It is seen that like other evaporative cooling devices, the cooler
works very well in the hot and dry climates in comparison to the other
climates. Due to high ambient temperature and low humidity, the rate
of cooling increases in hot and dry climatic conditions. The average
degree of cooling of refrigeration box with 15 W load is a maximum of
about 11.7 °C, for the hot and dry climate of Jodhpur. It is a minimum
9.2 °C for the hot and humid climate of Kolkata. The average degree of
cooling of air is 6.5 °C, 6.0 °C and 3.0 °C for the climate of Jodhpur,

Table 5
Performance of the proposed cooler for hot and dry, warm and humid and composite climates in India.
Jodhpur (hot and dry) Delhi (Composite) Kolkata (Warm and humid)

March March March

Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae

5W 25.2 0.26 14.3 19.0 5W 23.4 0.34 14.5 18.1 5W 26.5 0.58 21.5 23.5
10 W 25.2 0.26 14.8 19.0 10 W 23.4 0.34 15.2 18.1 10 W 26.5 0.58 22.1 23.5
15 W 25.2 0.26 15.4 19.0 15 W 23.4 0.34 16.1 18.1 15 W 26.5 0.58 22.9 23.5

April April April

Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae

5W 30.3 0.23 17.3 23.2 5W 28.6 0.30 17.7 22.5 5W 30.6 0.63 26.1 27.7
10 W 30.3 0.23 18.0 23.2 10 W 28.6 0.30 18.3 22.5 10 W 30.6 0.63 26.7 27.7
15 W 30.3 0.23 18.6 23.2 15 W 28.6 0.30 18.9 22.5 15 W 30.6 0.63 27.4 27.7

May May May

Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae

5W 34.4 0.24 20.5 26.8 5W 33.5 0.28 21.0 26.5 5W 31.1 0.70 27.5 26.8
10 W 34.4 0.24 21.2 26.8 10 W 33.5 0.28 21.6 26.5 10 W 31.1 0.70 27.9 26.8
15 W 34.4 0.24 21.8 26.8 15 W 33.5 0.28 22.3 26.5 15 W 31.1 0.70 28.5 26.8

June June June

Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae Tai γ Th Tae

5W 34.3 0.45 25.4 29.4 5W 34.3 0.40 24.6 28.8 5W 30.4 0.78 28.2 28.8
10 W 34.3 0.45 26.1 29.4 10 W 34.3 0.40 25.2 28.8 10 W 30.4 0.78 28.7 28.8
15 W 34.3 0.45 26.6 29.4 15 W 34.3 0.40 25.9 28.8 15 W 30.4 0.78 29.2 28.8

7
A. Somwanshi, et al.
Fig. 8. The coefficient of performance (COP) with 5 W load.
Delhi and Kolkata, respectively. The coefficient of performance of
cooler is maximum between 174 and 112 for the climate of Jodhpur
and minimum between 78 and 37 for moderate climate of Delhi.
The proposed mathematical model will be helpful to analyze the
performance of the cooler. The model is valuable for computing pre-
servation temperature and the temperature of the exit air, in different
climatic conditions and at different cooling loads. Model will help to
design and develop a cooler, utilized for space cooling and storage of
perishable items. The capacity of the storage box depends on the size of
the cooler tank. One can design accordingly looking to the size of the
cooler tank, and cooling capacity of cooler (exit air and refrigeration
temperature).
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgement
We are grateful to Mrs.Lipishmita N Mishra for vetting the
Thermal Science and Engineering Progress 17 (2020) 100483
manuscript and reviewers for their helpful suggestions.
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