Chilled Evaporative Cooler

Abstract

The present invention comprises a water chilled evaporative cooler that involves chilling water before it flows over evaporative cooler pads. This is an improvement over other methods, because it absorbs additional heat from the air due to the sensible heat that is absorbed when the water is heated from a chilled state to atmospheric temperature before it evaporates. The present invention provides an evaporative cooler which has a means to chill the temperature of the water being supplied to the evaporative cooler pads.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional application Ser. No. 62/496,290, filed 11 Oct. 2016, the entire contents of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, under 35 U.S.C. 119(e).

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM (EFS-WEB)

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to air coolers. More specifically, the present invention relates to improvements to an evaporative cooler.

2. Description of Related Art

Employing the technique of cooling air through water evaporation has existed since man first perspired. Anyone that perspires while exercising may notice they feel cooler when they stop. This is because your body is no longer generating heat from exercising, while the water on your skin is evaporating and cooling you down. This cooling effect is due to water on your skin changing from a liquid to a vapor state, which uses energy, in the form of heat from your body.

Early Egyptians would hang a wet towel in front of a door or window. When hot dry air would blow through the towel, water molecules in the towel would evaporate. This evaporation occurs as the heat energy of the hot air is applied to the forces that bind together the water molecules. When the heat energy overcomes these binding forces, it breaks the bonds between the water molecules, and the atoms move about more freely. This transition of water from a liquid to a vapor state is an endothermic reaction that absorbs heat from the surroundings. Thus, as the hot dry air contacts the wet towel, the water molecules in the wet towel absorbs heat, causing the surrounding air to cool. The process continues to occur until the air can no longer absorb moisture. As a result, evaporative cooling from a wet hanging towel provided an early version of air conditioning.

Relative humidity is a comparison of the amount of moisture present in the air versus the amount of moisture the air could hold when fully saturated. Hot dry air, which has a low relative humidity, is able to absorb water molecules until the air is fully saturated. A relative humidity of 100% indicates that the dew point is equal to the current temperature and that the air is fully saturated.

Air has both an observed temperature, referred to as the dry bulb temperature, which is the outside temperature reading from a typical thermometer, and a wet bulb temperature, which is a measurement of the amount of moisture in the air. The difference between the dry-bulb temperature and the wet-bulb temperature is known as the wet bulb depression, which determines the cooling potential for evaporative cooling. As the wet bulb temperature approaches the dry bulb temperature, the relative humidity increases. The ability to cool air through water evaporation decreases with increased relative humidity. Thus, evaporative cooling is most effective in geographical areas with low wet bulb temperatures, such as in desert environments, and least effective in areas with high relative humidity, such as the southeast United States.

Evaporative coolers, which are sometimes referred to as swamp coolers, wet-air coolers, desert coolers, or air washers have existed in the United States since the early 1900s. These types of air conditioners were principally used in the desert southwest, although they are becoming more popular in areas of the western United States with milder summer weather. Evaporative coolers are effective in areas where the relative humidity is 60% or less.

Although there are many types of evaporative coolers, the primary design for this invention consists of a four sided box. Each face of the box has an evaporative cooler pad (“pad”), typically made from any substance which is permeable to both water and air. The bottom of the box contains a basin for storing water. Water from the basin is pumped to the top of each pad and allowed to saturate each pad by flowing down along each pad towards the basin. A large fan contained within the box draws hot dry air across the pads and into the house or structure to be cooled. As the hot air flows across the saturated pads, it heats up the water in the saturated pads until it evaporates. This process of evaporating water, uses a great amount of energy to convert the water from a liquid to a vapor. This energy absorbs heat from the air, making the air cooler. From a thermodynamic perspective, the energy from the hot air is heating and evaporating water from the saturated pads, resulting in cooling of the air.

Many different ways have been attempted to improve the efficiency or cooling of an evaporative cooler. For example, opening the windows of a home to create a cross breeze makes an evaporative cooling system more effective. Using plants such as cacti or desiccant to absorb moisture may lower the relative humidity of the air to allow for more water to be evaporated, which improves the operation of the evaporative cooler. However, all of these methods have various disadvantages in that they are cumbersome, expensive, inefficient, or require multiple steps or a large amount of additional space. Thus, the need exists for a device that increases the efficiency or improves the cooling of an evaporative cooler that is quick, inexpensive, efficient, or requires very little additional space.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is a principal object to solve at least one of the disadvantages with other attempted solutions or to create other utility by providing a device that further cools the air temperature of an evaporative cooler that is quick, inexpensive, efficient, or requires very little additional space. The present invention involves chilling the water before it flows over the pads in an evaporative cooler. This is an improvement over other methods and cools the emitted air to a significant level. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an evaporative cooler which has a means to chill the temperature of the water being supplied to the evaporative cooler pads. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which set forth certain embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several aspects described below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the evaporative cooler of the present invention in which at least one of the embodiments is shown.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the front view of the evaporative cooler of the present invention in which at least one of the embodiments is shown.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the side view of the evaporative cooler of the present invention in which at least one of the embodiments is shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

It is to be understood that this invention is not limited to any particular embodiment described, which may vary. Also, it is to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting, since the scope of this invention will be limited only by the appended claims.

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to explain and provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it is apparent that the present invention may be practiced without all of these specific details. Thus, all illustrations of the drawings are for the purpose of describing versions of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

In the following section, the present invention is described fully by referencing the details in the enclosed drawings, which illustrate certain embodiments of the invention. The numbers shown in this specification refer to the corresponding numbers in the enclosed drawings. The terminology used is to describe the particular embodiment shown and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The invention may also be embodied in many other forms in addition to the embodiments shown. Thus, the embodiments shown should not be construed as limiting, but rather, to allow a thorough and complete description of the disclosure that conveys the scope of the invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art in the field of this invention. Therefore, for the terms used herein, the singular forms “the,” “a,” and “an” are intended to include the plural forms as well as the singular forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term “and” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items. As used herein, the terms “comprising” and “comprises” when used in this specification, identify specific steps, integers, operations, features, components, and elements, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other steps, operations, features, components, and elements. In addition, the features, components, and elements referenced may be exaggerated for clarity.

Unless otherwise defined, all scientific terms, technical terms, or other terms used herein have the same meaning as the term that is understood by one having ordinary skill in the art in the field of this invention. It is also understood that these terms, including their dictionary meaning, should be understood as having the meaning, which is consistent with their definitions in the related relevant art. In addition, the present disclosure is not to be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly stated so herein. Constructions or functions that are well known in the art may not be fully described in detail for brevity.

In describing the invention, it is understood that a number of steps and methods may be disclosed. Each of these may have individual benefit. Also, each may be used in conjunction with at least one or more of the disclosed steps and methods. Therefore, this description will refrain from stating each and every possible combination of the individual steps and methods for the sake of brevity. Regardless, the specification and related claims should be understood with the combinations that are entirely within the scope of the claims and inventions.

The disclosure in this invention are examples of how it may be implemented and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the specific embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings or the description provided herein. The present invention will now be described by example in the following paragraphs by referencing the accompanying drawings, which represent embodiments and alternative embodiments.

The detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. It should be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, the details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the evaporative cooler of the present invention comprises a water chiller 240 and a chilled water pump 270. The water chiller 240 may be a vapor-compression refrigerator or any other device that is capable of lowering the temperature of water. The chiller used for testing this invention was a JBJ Artica chiller, with the following specifications: 1/10 hp, 75 watts, 1270 btu/hr, 1.5 amps with a recommended flow rate of 240 gph. Chilled water pump 270 pumps water to water chiller 240 through supply water pipe 260. Water is returned from water chiller 240 to a water basin through return water pipe 250.

FIG. 1 also shows an energy source, such as solar panels 320 and a power storage device, such as batteries 330. The solar panels 320 charge the batteries 330, which may power one or more of the following: the power water chiller 240, chilled water pump 270, fan motor 300, and/or a pad water pump 290, which is shown in FIG. 2. Power may also be supplied from an AC power source, such as a hard-wired connection or an electrical receptacle. Fan motor 300 powers a fan (not shown) that receives air through air through air vent 220.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of the front view of the evaporative cooler of the present invention. The water basin 230 at the bottom of the evaporative cooler creates a reservoir that holds a relatively constant volume of water. Pad water pump 290 pumps water from basin 230 through vertical pipe 280 and horizontal pipe 210 to at least one evaporative cooler pad 200. As pad water pump 290 pumps water from basin 230, the level in basin 230 begins to drop. Some water eventually drains back to the basin 230 from evaporative cooler pads 200. However, a portion of the water is lost due to evaporation from the evaporative cooler pads 200 and the basin 230 itself. Thus, as the evaporative cooler runs and evaporation occurs, the water level in basin 230 drops causing a level float 310 to drop. When level float 310 reaches a predetermined set point, a valve 235 is opened on a hose or pipe that connects basin 230 to a residential or commercial water supply. When the valve 235 is opened, water flows into the basin 230, which causes both the water level to rise along with the level float 310 until it hits a set point that closes the valve 235. In this manner, the water level in basin 230 is held at a relatively constant volume of water.

FIG. 2 also shows that chiller water pump 270 pumps water from basin 230 through piping 260 to water chiller 240. Water chiller 240 then chills the entering water and returns it through water piping 250 back to the basin 230. In this way, water is cooled to a lower temperature in the basin 230 before it is pumped to the evaporative cooler pads 200. Air fan 225 (not shown), which is powered by fan motor 300, takes in air through air vent 220 and draws it through the evaporative cooler pads 200 that are soaked with water. As the water transitions into a vapor state, heat is absorbed during this process, which cools the temperature of the air exiting the evaporative cooler pads 200 into the occupied space that is to be cooled.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of the side view of the evaporative cooler of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows the water basin 230 at the bottom of the evaporative cooler. As described above, chiller water pump 270 pumps water from the basin 230 through supply pipe 260 to water chiller 240. Water chiller 240 chills the water and returns it through return pipe 250 to the basin 230. After the water in basin 230 is cooled to the desired temperature, pad water pump 290 pumps water from basin 230 to the evaporative cooler pads 200 (not shown). The chilled water absorbs heat from the surrounding air as it increases in temperature before it evaporates. This causes the surrounding air to decrease in temperature by a certain amount. Then, as air fan 225, which is powered by fan motor 300, draws air through the evaporative cooler pads 200 that are saturated with this water that has increased in temperature, this water absorbs further heat as it transitions from a liquid to vapor state. This causes the surrounding air to decrease in temperature by an additional amount.

The energy source to power water chiller 240 can be any typical energy source such as solar power from solar panels 320, batteries charged by the solar panel or other means, or electricity supplied from an AC power source, such as a hard-wired connection or an electrical receptacle. In the event solar power is used, an arrangement of batteries 330 is provided that charges the solar panels 320. The arrangement of batteries 330 charged by the solar panels 320 provide an uninterrupted power supply, which allow the evaporative cooler to continue to run in the event of a power outage.

Most ordinary evaporative coolers use water that comes straight from water supply lines at or around the ambient air temperature. As a result, most cooling for ordinary evaporative coolers is due to only the latent heat required to transform water from a liquid to a vapor state.

In at least one embodiment of this invention, in addition to the sensible heat that is absorbed when the chilled water is heated up before it evaporates, additional cooling occurs due to the cooling provided by the latent heat that is absorbed when the water evaporates. Thus, the air cooled in this invention is due to both the sensible heat absorbed to heat the chilled water and the latent heat absorbed to evaporate the water. Thus, the invention decreases the temperature of the air emitted from the evaporative cooler further than a typical evaporative cooler.

As the air passes through the wet evaporative cooler pads, evaporative cooling reduces the temperature at constant enthalpy. Conversely, the temperature reduction that can be achieved in the air flow is also fixed. As the temperature of the air increases, the temperature to which it can be cooled also increases. For example, if the water is at 75 degrees, assuming generally accepted efficiency of an evaporative coolers, an air temperature of 105 degrees can only be cooled to approximately between 85 and 90 degrees. However, in at least one embodiment of this invention, the water temperature may be lowered with water chiller 240 to below 60 degrees, which gives a significant temperature drop in the resulting air temperature. Thus, in order to increase the amount of energy that can be transferred to the water and consequently, decrease the temperature to which the air can be cooled, it is desirable to cool the water supply.

Water chiller 240 works by removing heat from the water. Any mechanism that can achieve the removal of heat from the water will work in the present invention, such as a vapor compression chiller. In a vapor compression chiller, water is pumped into the chiller and enters a heat exchanger. Inside the heat exchanger, water flows around a series of cool metal coils filled with refrigerant. Heat from the water is transferred to the refrigerant. The heated refrigerant is compressed and changes from a liquid into a gas inside the compressor. Gaseous refrigerant is sent into a condenser where a fan blows air over the heated gas expelling the heat into the atmosphere. As the refrigerant cools, it is transformed back into a liquid. The cooled liquid is sent back to the metal coils where the process begins again.

The water chiller 240 of the present invention may achieve a decrease in water temperature of up to approximately 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Any reduction of between 10 and 25 degrees Fahrenheit will improve the evaporative cooler performance.

In at least one embodiment of this invention, the power to the pad water pump 290 can be turned off, so that the evaporative cooler pads 200 become dry. In this embodiment, the water chiller 240 and chiller water pump 270 still cool the water in the basin 230. Thus, when air is drawn in through air vent 220 by air fan 225, the air will cool in part due to the lower temperature of the water in the basin. Therefore, cool air will be emitted into the home. This is similar to the effect of wind blowing air across a cold body of water towards land to cool the land.

While certain embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention by such disclosure, but rather, is intended to cover all modifications and alternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

All of these embodiments and the invention disclosed herein are intended to be within the scope herein disclosed. These and other embodiments of the invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description of the preferred embodiments having reference to the attached figures, the embodiments not being limited to any particular, preferred embodiments disclosed. Also, the invention disclosed herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element which is not specifically disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An evaporative cooling system, comprising:

an air circulation system, comprising: at least one air vent; at least one evaporative cooler pad; a fan for drawing air through the at least one air vent and at least one evaporative cooler pad; and a fan motor for powering the fan;

a reservoir system for containing water, comprising: a basin; a float; and a valve connecting the basin to a water supply;

a chilled water system for lowering the temperature of water, comprising; a water chiller; a chiller water pump for pumping water from the basin to the water chiller; a chilled water supply pipe for supplying water to the water chiller from the chiller water pump; and a chilled water return pipe for returning water from the water chiller to the basin;

a pad water system for saturating the evaporative cooler pads, comprising: a pad water pump for pumping water from the basin to the evaporative cooler pads; a pad water supply pipe for supplying water to the evaporative cooler pads from the pad water pump; and means for returning unevaporated water from the evaporative cooler pad to the basin.

2. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the fan motor is battery powered.

3. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the water chiller is battery powered.

4. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the chiller water pump is battery powered.

5. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the pad water pump is battery powered.

6. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the fan motor is solar powered.

7. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the water chiller is solar powered.

8. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the chiller water pump is solar powered.

9. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the pad water pump is solar powered.

10. The evaporative cooling system of claim 1, wherein the system operates without power to the pad water pump.

11. An evaporative cooling system, comprising:

an air circulation system, comprising: at least one air vent; at least one evaporative cooler pad; a fan for drawing air through the at least one air vent and at least one evaporative cooler pad; and a fan motor for powering the fan;

a reservoir system for containing water, comprising: a basin; a float; and a valve connecting the basin to a water supply;

a chilled water system for lowering the temperature of water, comprising; a water chiller; a chiller water pump for pumping water from the basin to the water chiller; a chilled water supply pipe for supplying water to the water chiller from the chiller water pump; and a chilled water return pipe for returning water from the water chiller to the basin;

a pad water system for saturating the evaporative cooler pads, comprising: a pad water pump for pumping water from the basin to the evaporative cooler pads; a pad water supply pipe for supplying water to the evaporative cooler pads from the pad water pump; and means for returning unevaporated water from the evaporative cooler pad to the basin;

a solar power system, comprising: at least one solar panel; at least one battery box for storing solar power.

12. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the fan motor is powered from an electrical receptacle.

13. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the water chiller is powered from an electrical receptacle.

14. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the chiller water pump is powered from an electrical receptacle.

15. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the pad water is powered from an electrical receptacle.

16. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the fan motor is powered by the solar power system.

17. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the water chiller is powered by the solar power system.

18. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the chiller water pump is powered by the solar power system.

19. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the pad water pump is powered by the solar power system.

20. The evaporative cooling system of claim 11, wherein the system operates without power to the pad water pump.