Abstract:
Evaporative coolers are technologies highly used as a source of thermal comfort in terms of fresh
air provider in areas where weather conditions are harsh and people living standard goes from
medium to low earnings. This technology being environmentally friendly still requires a certain
minimum maintenance, mostly the change of pads. This paper presents the performance of a costeffective cooling pad made from the fibers of hyphanene thebaica (wood wool) as an alternative
pad to the commercial ones rendering this technology more accessible and affordable for all social
classes. The experiment was done in an insulated duct whereby thermodynamic parameters of
locally made pad such as temperature, pressure, relative humidity and velocity, were recorded,
and effect of physical properties on performances were analyzed. Compared to the commercial
pad, the proposed local pad presented the lowest minimum outlet dry bulb temperature (20.00oC),
a saturation efficiency of 78.80% with the highest cooling capacity of 0.1867 kW, the highest heat
transfer coefficient of 7.3497 kW/m
2 oC, the best cost-to-efficiency ratio (CER) and coefficient of performance (COP). By studying and improving the pads thermophysical characteristics,
performance could be improved opening ways towards industrial production of such pads for a
sustainable development.
