Abstract
An indirect evaporative cooling system combining with thermoelectric cooling technology (i.e., TIEC system) is proposed, in which a counter-flow plate-fin indirect evaporative cooler is inserted with thermoelectric cooling (i.e., TEC) modules. In hot and humid climate, condensation may occur on the dry channel surface of the cooler. For the TIEC system, with the aid of TEC technology, the surface temperature of the dry channel can be much lower than that of a traditional indirect evaporative cooler, thus, the condensation from the primary air is more likely to take place. A numerical model of this novel TIEC system is developed with specifically taking condensation from primary air into account. Detailed performance analysis of the TIEC system is carried out. Analytical results found that the condensation from primary air reduces the dew point effectiveness by up to 45.0% by weakening the sensible heat transfer but increases the coefficient of performance by up to 62.2% by increasing the latent heat transfer, under given conditions. The effects of main operating conditions, such as the electrical current I and number n of TEC modules, inlet temperature Tp,i, humidity ratio RHp and velocity Vp of the primary air, and the mass flow rate ratio x of secondary to primary air, are investigated under non-condensation and condensation states. It is shown that condensate is more easily produced under higher I, n, Tp,i, RHp, x and lower Vp.