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by rudedogg
3308 days ago
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I live in an area where evaporative coolers are effective. I hate setting it up every year, and was looking into central air. When researching I learned about how efficient evaporative coolers are, and it gave me more appreciation for them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler: * Estimated cost of operation is 1/8 that of refrigerated air conditioning
It's really interesting to think about the advantages/disadvantages of geography in regards to power generation/consumption. It didn't really occur to me until going through the above experience.---------------- The design of these systems is really interesting. Most of them have a lot of wearable parts (belt and bearings), which means more maintenance. There are some new designs (http://www.bonaire-usa.com/products.html#window) that do away with the "squirrel cage" fan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_fan), and a lot of the maintenance. I wonder if the efficiency of the new design is lower than the traditional centrifugal fan design? I know this can be found - I just don't want to go too deep researching. If anyone knows off hand I'd appreciate an answer! |
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It depends. They each have their pros and cons:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_fan
http://www.pelonistechnologies.com/blog/axial-vs.-centrifuga... (might be somewhat biased)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_(machine)
Unfortunately I couldn't find anything on axial fan efficiency or whatnot, compared to centrifugal fans. In general, though, if I had to pick one I'd go with the centrifugal fan for cooling purposes; they seem to move air much better than axial fans.
They do make direct-drive centrifugal fans, but I am not sure if they exist in large versions for home cooling systems. They are made for use in computers, as well as for smaller (but still large) units like blowers for drying and for things like "air curtains" and smaller blowers for small air-conditioning systems.