Pemanfaatan Evaporative Cooling untuk Meningkatkan Kenyamanan Ruang

Abstract

Sistem pendingin Air Cooler atau evaporative cooling (EC) mempunyai keunggulan hemat energy dan kontruksi sederhana. Namun kelemahannya adalah terjadi peningkatan kelembaban udara, sehingga hanya cocok digunakan pada daerah yang kelembaban rendah dan temperatur tinggi. Untuk wilayah Indonesia yang terdiri dua musin , hujan dan kemarau, penggunaan unit pendingin ini hanya cocok pada bulan kemarau, karena temperatur tinggi (hingga 34 C) dan kelembaban cukup rendah (RH 50 %). Mengingat kelemahan Air Cooler yaitu menghasilkan kelembaban tinggi, maka dalam pengoperasiannya tidak dianjurkan dalam ruang tertutup , karena berangsur-angsur akan meningkatkan kelembaban, sehinga perlu diberikan sirkulasi udara baru. Pada pengujian ini digunakan Air Cooler jenis semburan langsung yang dipasang pada ruang ukuran 3 x 3 x 3 m , sedang sirkulasi udara baru diberikan dengan melakukan bukaan jendela ruang, yaitu dengan membuka jendela setinggi 0 cm, 5 cm, dan 15 cm. Masing-masing data selama pengujian, yaitu temperatur dan kelembaban udara ruang, diambil selama 2 jam. Dari hasil pengujian diperoleh pada bukaan terkecil (jendela tertutup) terjadi penurunan temperature hingga 5 C (dari 31 C hingga 26 C) namun terjadi peningkatan kelembaban yang tinggi hingga RH 89 %. Sedang pada bukaan jendela 5 cm terjadi penurunan 4 C (dari 32 C hingga 28 C) dengan RH 75 % dan bukaan 15 cm terjadi sedikit penurunan temperatur 3,7 C (dari 32 hingga28,3 C) dengan RH 72 %.

Applicability of Direct Evaporative Cooling for Low-Rise Residential Building in Surabaya

“…Some explored the materials used for the cooling pad (Suryana et al, 2014;Susila et al, 2019). Some investigated its application to buildings (Kindangen et al, 2015;Kindangen & Umboh, 2017;Mohammad et al, 2013;Seputra, 2018;Yunianto, 2018). The studies that focus on exploring cooling pad materials found that different properties of the cooling pad, i.e., materials, area, and thickness, could result in different performances (Suryana et al, 2014;Susila et al, 2019).…”

“…In this regard, previous studies recommend the use of other complementary techniques. The most basic proposal combines DEC with natural ventilation (Yunianto, 2018). This recommendation can improve comfort and is relatively affordable.…”

“…An indoor wall fountain using evaporative cooling principles is offered to reduce indoor air temperature (Seputra, 2018). The technique is also proposed for the room of a building (Yunianto, 2018), buildings that use passive downdraught evaporative cooler (Gokarakonda & Kokogiannakis, 2014), and building facades (Suwannapruk et al, 2020). These studies generally dealt with the physical model to investigate the evaporative cooler's performance, and some aimed to analyze its applicability to internal space and building elements.…”

Evaluation of evaporative cooler models using cotton-based fabric pads for tropical housing units

“…Aside from the natural ventilation mentioned above, direct evaporative cooling (DEC) can also be an alternative for cooling a building in a warmhumid climate like Surabaya. However, the utilization of DEC in warm-humid areas is limited (Mohammad et al 2013;Yunianto 2018). This limitation owes that the use of the technique can increase internal air humidity.…”

“…Even though the method can help reduce air temperature considerably, the increase in relative humidity can restrict the evaporation process in the human body and thus elevates discomfort (Poku, W. Oyinki, and A. Ogbonnaya 2017;Rao and Datta 2018). Nevertheless, several studies recommend the use of the technique if it is coupled with other strategies that can help to minimize the increase in air humidity (Yunianto 2018;Suwannapruk, Prieto, and Janssen 2020;Raza et al 2020;Hussain et al 2020;Chang et al 2020;Alwetaishi et al 2020;Suryo et al 2000;Sajjad et al 2021). If the increased air humidity is not too high, it can be compensated by sufficient air velocity in internal space.…”