Adiabatic basics:
Types, applications and benefits of adiabatic humidification
Learn how adiabatic humidification can reduce cooling loads and energy costs
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by Lynne Wasner; and David Schwaller, Mechanical Engineer
DRI-STEEM Corporation, Eden Prairie, mn
Imagine a lazy, hot, August afternoon of your childhood,
cicadas buzzing, not a leaf stirring, and there's nothing to do. So, you ponder the drops of water on your cold Coke can. It's sweating, your mother says. On such a hot day you almost believe her.
What your childhood mind was trying to understand was phase change caused by energy transfer: Heat in the air transferred to the cold can,
causing water vapor in the surrounding air to convert to liquid water
(condensation).
Of course you drink that refreshingly cold soda, get distracted (from the caffeine, no doubt), and return to find the can dry on the outside.
What happened? Heat in the air transferred to the liquid water droplets on the can,
causing them to revert back to vapor (evaporation).
The above story serves as an example of an adiabatic process, for if that cold can were placed into a theoretically closed system, no heat would be extracted from or added to that system; heat would just transfer, changing vapor to water and water to vapor.
The coolest thing about an adiabatic process is that it can be harnessed to reduce air temperature and provide humidification via an adiabatic humidifier.
Adiabatic humidifiers utilize a variety of technologies to introduce water into air,
either by dispersing water droplets or by allowing water to evaporate from a wetted media, causing relative humidity (RH) levels to increase and air temperature (dry bulb)
to decrease.
A d i a b a t i c b a s i c s : Ty p e s , a p p l i c a t i o n s , a n d b e n e f i t s o f a d i a b a t i c h u m i d i f i c a t i o n
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Adiabatic basics: Benefits
Benefits of adiabatic humidification
Adiabatic humidifiers cause relative humidity
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air temperature (dry bulb)
to decrease
Reduces cooling load. Perhaps the most touted benefit of adiabatic humidification is air cooling. Because adiabatic humidifiers draw heat from air for evaporation, they can produce a 20 °F or more temperature
