Cooling assembly

Abstract

An apparatus for air conditioning the interior of a structure is shown which can be run entirely off a DC power source, such as a storage battery. A shell and tube heat exchanger is combined with a mechanical refrigeration system to provide a wet shell side and a dry tube side of the apparatus. In the operation of the air conditioner, a mass of distributed water is established on the wet shell side, and a flow of ambient air is passed through the wet shell side to form a resulting stream of moist air. A flow of ambient air is passed through the dry tube side and a resulting stream of dry cooled air is recovered. The streams of most and cooled air can either be combined or routed separately depending primarily upon the humidity of the surrounding environment to be cooled.

1 . A cooling assembly comprising: 
 a heat exchanger, said heat exchanger including a case member enclosing a wet side in heat exchange relationship with a dry side, said sides being substantially hermetically sealed from one another;    a first air moving member adapted to move air through said dry side to produce a cooled stream of air;    a liquid distributing member within said wet side;    a liquid sump element associated with said wet side and adapted to receive liquid from said wet side and to make said liquid available to said liquid distributing member;    at least two additional air moving members adapted to move air through said wet side from different locations to produce a humidified mass of turbulent air on said wet side;    a mechanical refrigeration unit including a compressor and an associated refrigeration manifold, the refrigeration manifold being located within the liquid sump element for refrigerating liquid contained therein; and    an additional refrigeration manifold located within the enclosed wet side of the case member of the heat exchanger.    
   
   
       2 . A cooling assembly for cooling the interior of a structure, the cooling assembly comprising: 
 a stacked chamber arrangement having a centrally located, forced-air evaporative cooling chamber which separates an exhaust air plenum located above the cooling chamber from an air intake plenum located below the cooling chamber, the cooling chamber having a top wall and a bottom wall and surrounding sidewalls and a plurality of vertically arranged riser tubes which connect the intake plenum with the exhaust air plenum, the bottom wall creating a cold water sump region;    an intake fan, located within the air intake plenum, for drawing air upwardly through the plurality of vertical riser tubes which connect the intake plenum with the exhaust air plenum to thereby produce a cooled stream of air;    a liquid distributing member located in the cooling chamber adjacent the top wall thereof;    a pump for pumping water from the sump region of the cooling chamber to the liquid distributing member;    a pair of oppositely arranged fans mounted on the cooling chamber sidewalls for moving air through the cooling chamber from different locations to produce a humidified mass of turbulent air within the cooling chamber;    a discharge outlet for discharging air from the cooling chamber;    a mechanical refrigeration unit including a compressor and an associated refrigeration manifold, the refrigeration manifold being located within the sump region of the cooling chamber for refrigerating water contained therein; and    an additional refrigeration manifold located in front of the discharge outlet of the cooling chamber for dehumidifying the turbulent air mass passing through the discharge outlet.    
   
   
       3 . The cooling assembly of  claim 2 , wherein the additional refrigeration manifold is cooled by the same compressor as the mechanical refrigeration unit used to cool the sump region of the cooling chamber.  
   
   
       4 . The cooling assembly of  claim 3 , wherein the mechanical refrigeration unit also includes a condenser and associated conduits for circulating refrigerant between a high and low side of an evaporative coil and wherein the associated conduits have pump down valves installed therein for controlling the flow of refrigerant to the evaporative coil, the pump down valves being open when the oppositely arranged fans mounted on the cooling chamber sidewalls are on and running and being closed when the fans are off.  
   
   
       5 . A direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly with refrigerated chilled water sump for cooling the interior of a structure, the cooling assembly comprising: 
 a stacked chamber arrangement having a centrally located, forced-air evaporative cooling chamber which separates an exhaust air plenum located above the cooling chamber from an air intake plenum located below the cooling chamber, the cooling chamber, intake plenum and exhaust plenum comprising a shell and tube heat exchanger which encloses a wet side in heat exchange relationship with a dry side, the sides being substantially hermetically sealed from one another; the cooling chamber having a top wall and a bottom wall and surrounding sidewalls and a plurality of vertically arranged riser tubes, the bottom wall creating a cold water sump region as well as the top wall of the air intake plenum and a lower tubesheet for the riser tubes, the top wall of the cooling chamber forming the bottom wall of the exhaust air plenum and an upper tubesheet for the riser tubes;    an intake fan, located within the air intake plenum, for drawing air upwardly through the plurality of vertical riser tubes which connect the intake plenum with the exhaust air plenum to thereby produce a cooled stream of air from the dry side of the assembly;    a liquid distributing member located on the wet side of the cooling chamber adjacent the top wall thereof;    a pump for pumping water from the sump region of the cooling chamber to the liquid distributing member;    a pair of oppositely arranged fans mounted on the cooling chamber sidewalls for moving air through the wet side from different locations to produce a humidified mass of turbulent air on the wet side;    a discharge outlet for discharging air from the cooling chamber;    a mechanical refrigeration unit including a compressor and an associated refrigeration manifold, the refrigeration manifold being located within the sump region of the cooling chamber for refrigerating water contained therein; and    an additional refrigeration manifold located in front of the discharge outlet of the cooling chamber for dehumidifying the turbulent air mass passing through the discharge outlet.    
   
   
       6 . The direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly of  claim 5 , wherein the additional refrigeration manifold is cooled by the same compressor as the mechanical refrigeration unit used to cool the sump region of the cooling chamber.  
   
   
       7 . The direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly of  claim 6 , wherein the mechanical refrigeration unit also includes a condenser and associated conduits for circulating refrigerant between a high and low side of an evaporative coil and wherein the associated conduits have pump down valves installed therein for controlling the flow of refrigerant to the evaporative coil, the pump down valves being open when the oppositely arranged fans mounted on the cooling chamber sidewalls are on and running and being closed when the fans are off.  
   
   
       8 . The direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly of  claim 5 , wherein the cooling assembly is located within a structure to be cooled having a ceiling and an attic, and wherein the structure is equipped with at least one automatic ceiling vent which opens and closes to admit air from the structure to the attic, the attic having a discharge vent for discharging air from the attic, whereby static air within the structure is periodically discharged.  
   
   
       9 . The direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly of  claim 8 , wherein the oppositely arranged fans on the cooling chamber have fan inlets, and wherein at least one of the fan inlets is connected to a duct which runs outside the structure for admitting outside air to the cooling chamber.  
   
   
       10 . The direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly of  claim 5 , wherein the sump region of the cooling chamber is connected to a discharge conduit for discharging pollutants which have collected in the water standing in the sump region.  
   
   
       11 . The direct/indirect evaporative cooling assembly of  claim 5 , wherein an additional duct connects the air intake plenum with the cooling chamber, the duct having a thermostatically controlled valve mounted therein for controlling the flow of air from the air intake plenum to the cooling chamber.