Thermal Performance of Building Using Evaporative Cooler with Different Fabric Cooling Pad Densities: A Scale Model Study

Over the last five decades, excessive energy consumption in buildings and resource scarcity have led to the energy crisis. The situation has encouraged many researchers to study design strategies that offer more comfortable and sustainable buildings. The present study uses different fabric pad densities to explore the thermal performance of combined natural ventilation (NV) and direct evaporative cooling (DEC) systems. This contributes to the studies investigating the possible use of DEC in tropical public housing, which is limited. This study is an extension of the previous study on the topic, which explored the thermal performance of several varieties of cotton-based cooling pads in DEC systems. Scale models and experimental methods were adopted. The influence of cooling pad densities on indoor thermal conditions was analyzed. The study shows that different cooling pad densities produce different thermal performances but insignificantly influence indoor thermal conditions under mixed-mode methods.