Abstract
•A counter-flow hollow fiber membrane-based evaporative cooler is proposed.•A numerical model is established and validated by experimental data.•The regression models for performance prediction are derived by response surface methodology.•The desirability function is adopted to perform multi-objective optimization.•The accurate regression models can facilitate the regional applicability analysis.
The proposed hollow fiber membrane-based evaporative cooler (HFMEC) is expected to be an alternative to the conventional direct evaporative cooler because of its advantages such as the isolation of air from liquid water and the large specific surface area. For the common counter-flow HFMEC with many influencing parameters, it is a bit laborious or even incompetent to rely on experiment or numerical simulation for the parametric study and optimization. Therefore, this study aims to develop accurate and rapid performance prediction models for the proposed HFMEC with the statistical method. An experimental test system for a counter-flow HFMEC was set up. 120 sets of simulations were carried out based on the experimentally validated numerical model and the response surface methodology. Five accurate and practical empirical equations were derived using simulated data: the considered eight input factors consisted of four operating parameters and four membrane module design parameters; the five output responses included the outlet air temperature, outlet air relative humidity, saturation effectiveness, cooling capacity per unit volume, and COP. These simplified equations were adopted to facilitate parameter sensitivity analysis and multi-objective optimization. A case study on the regional applicability of the counter-flow HFMEC demonstrated the ability of the derived equations to conveniently make performance predictions. The results indicated that the regression models could contribute to the rapid performance prediction of the counter-flow HFMEC, aiding in optimization and design.