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Dr. JAVIER RUIZ RAMÍREZ
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Energy, Miguel Hernández University of Elche, Avenida Universidad s/s, 03202, Elche, Spain

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Heat Transfer
0 Mass Transfer
0 Renewable Energy
0 Evaporative Cooling
0 Computational fluid dynamics modelling

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Journal article
Published: 25 July 2020 in Renewable Energy
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Photovoltaic systems combined with electrical compression chillers offer a high potential for energy efficient cooling with a high economic feasibility. They can significantly reduce the energy consumption in the building sector. The main goal of this study is to analyse the performance of a PV solar driven water-water chiller. The novelty of the work relies on the use of a novel system, called photovoltaic evaporative chimney, which aims to increase the efficiency of solar photovoltaic modules by evaporative cooling. The complete solar cooling system consists of four PV panels (1.02 kWp) and a 3.8 kW refrigeration capacity water-cooled chiller. A systematic study was undertaken and nine sets of experiments were conducted in summer conditions of a Mediterranean climate (Spain). The system’s ability to convert the solar energy into refrigeration capacity was observed to be 0.49 on average for the tests performed. The solar contribution (ratio of PV energy consumption to total absorbed energy) was 64.40%. The system produced on average 11.32 cooling kWh per each kWh consumed from the grid. The influence of the ambient conditions on the key performance indicators has been assessed and global correlations for use in more detailed energy analyses have been developed.

ACS Style

J. Ruiz; P. Martínez; H. Sadafi; F.J. Aguilar; P.G. Vicente; M. Lucas. Experimental characterization of a photovoltaic solar-driven cooling system based on an evaporative chimney. Renewable Energy 2020, 161, 43 -54.

AMA Style

J. Ruiz, P. Martínez, H. Sadafi, F.J. Aguilar, P.G. Vicente, M. Lucas. Experimental characterization of a photovoltaic solar-driven cooling system based on an evaporative chimney. Renewable Energy. 2020; 161 ():43-54.

Chicago/Turabian Style

J. Ruiz; P. Martínez; H. Sadafi; F.J. Aguilar; P.G. Vicente; M. Lucas. 2020. "Experimental characterization of a photovoltaic solar-driven cooling system based on an evaporative chimney." Renewable Energy 161, no. : 43-54.

Journal article
Published: 09 June 2020 in Energies
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Pre-cooling of inlet air using evaporative cooling is an effective approach to enhance the performance of air-cooled condensers in air conditioning applications. Ultrasonic mist generators have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional evaporative cooling systems based on cooling pads or spray cooling. This paper presents the developed numerical model of an ultrasonic mist generator for the evaporative pre-cooling of the inlet air of the condenser in air conditioning applications. The model was validated against the experimental data obtained in a wind tunnel experimental facility. A parametric analysis including some physical variables involved in the cooling process was carried out, including the main axial air velocity, the injection air velocity and the water mass flow rate of atomized water. The dimensionless groups water-to-air mass flow and air-to-air mass flow ratios were found to most affect the average evaporative cooling efficiency. A maximum value of 0.654 was found for the studied conditions. The optimization analysis carried out shows that the operational ranges leading to the best overall performance are 5 × 10 − 4 ≤ m ˙ w / m ˙ a T ≤ 0.002 and 0.035 ≤ m ˙ a i / m ˙ a T ≤ 0.05 . Under these conditions, there is a better distribution of the water mist throughout the control section and a more homogeneous and effective evaporative cooling process.

ACS Style

Javier Ruiz; Pedro Martínez Martínez; Iñigo Martin M.; Manuel Lucas; Javier Ruiz Ramírez; Íñigo Martín Melero; Lucas Miralles Manuel. Numerical Characterization of an Ultrasonic Mist Generator as an Evaporative Cooler. Energies 2020, 13, 1 .

AMA Style

Javier Ruiz, Pedro Martínez Martínez, Iñigo Martin M., Manuel Lucas, Javier Ruiz Ramírez, Íñigo Martín Melero, Lucas Miralles Manuel. Numerical Characterization of an Ultrasonic Mist Generator as an Evaporative Cooler. Energies. 2020; 13 (11):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Javier Ruiz; Pedro Martínez Martínez; Iñigo Martin M.; Manuel Lucas; Javier Ruiz Ramírez; Íñigo Martín Melero; Lucas Miralles Manuel. 2020. "Numerical Characterization of an Ultrasonic Mist Generator as an Evaporative Cooler." Energies 13, no. 11: 1.

Journal article
Published: 06 December 2018 in Applied Thermal Engineering
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Drift eliminators play a major role in cooling tower operation. They are designed to reduce the discharge aerosols in their exhaust air stream to a minimum since inhaled airborne particles can cause the well-known Legionnaires disease. However, the pressure drop induced into the air stream increases the power consumption of the system. Accordingly, the design and selection of these elements should be a trade-off between the pressure drop and the collection efficiency. In this paper, six commercial drift eliminators (vane, wire mesh, and honeycomb-type) have been characterized in terms of pressure drop and collection efficiency with the aim of providing reliable information that can be used in drift eliminator design and selection. Fifty three experiments were conducted regarding the pressure drop and collection efficiency characterization of the eliminators. Generally speaking, for the same type of eliminators the higher the pressure drop, the more efficient it is. Concerning typologies, wire-mesh eliminators perform better than the rest in terms of both pressure drop and collection efficiency. Dimensionless correlations for the pressure drop coefficient and the collection efficiency have been developed for the tested eliminators, showing a good agreement with the experimental results. A selection criterion has been proposed based on the dimensionless parameters that govern the problem and the experimental data of power consumption. It is based on determining the power consumed by the fans of the tower by setting a limit of collection efficiency and the droplet distribution characteristics at the cooling tower outlet area.

ACS Style

J. Ruiz; C.G. Cutillas; A.S. Kaiser; B. Zamora; Hosein Sadafi; M. Lucas. Experimental study on pressure loss and collection efficiency of drift eliminators. Applied Thermal Engineering 2018, 149, 94 -104.

AMA Style

J. Ruiz, C.G. Cutillas, A.S. Kaiser, B. Zamora, Hosein Sadafi, M. Lucas. Experimental study on pressure loss and collection efficiency of drift eliminators. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2018; 149 ():94-104.

Chicago/Turabian Style

J. Ruiz; C.G. Cutillas; A.S. Kaiser; B. Zamora; Hosein Sadafi; M. Lucas. 2018. "Experimental study on pressure loss and collection efficiency of drift eliminators." Applied Thermal Engineering 149, no. : 94-104.

Journal article
Published: 01 October 2017 in Renewable Energy
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ACS Style

M. Lucas; F.J. Aguilar; J. Ruiz; C.G. Cutillas; A.S. Kaiser; Pedro Vicente-Quiles. Photovoltaic Evaporative Chimney as a new alternative to enhance solar cooling. Renewable Energy 2017, 111, 26 -37.

AMA Style

M. Lucas, F.J. Aguilar, J. Ruiz, C.G. Cutillas, A.S. Kaiser, Pedro Vicente-Quiles. Photovoltaic Evaporative Chimney as a new alternative to enhance solar cooling. Renewable Energy. 2017; 111 ():26-37.

Chicago/Turabian Style

M. Lucas; F.J. Aguilar; J. Ruiz; C.G. Cutillas; A.S. Kaiser; Pedro Vicente-Quiles. 2017. "Photovoltaic Evaporative Chimney as a new alternative to enhance solar cooling." Renewable Energy 111, no. : 26-37.

Journal article
Published: 01 July 2017 in Environmental Pollution
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Cooling tower emissions have become an increasingly common hazard to the environment (air polluting, ice formation and salts deposition) and to the health (Legionella disease) in the last decades. Several environmental policies have emerged in recent years limiting cooling tower emissions but they have not prevented an increasing intensity of outbreaks. Since the level of emissions depends mainly on cooling tower component design and the operating conditions, this paper deals with an experimental investigation of the amount of emissions, drift and PM10, emitted by a cooling tower with different configurations (drift eliminators and distribution systems) and working under several operating conditions. This objective is met by the measurement of cooling tower source emission parameters by means of the sensitive paper technique. Secondary objectives were to contextualize the observed emission rates according to international regulations. Our measurements showed that the drift rates included in the relevant international standards are significantly higher than the obtained results (an average of 100 times higher) and hence, the environmental problems may occur. Therefore, a revision of the standards is recommended with the aim of reducing the environmental and human health impact. By changing the operating conditions and the distribution system, emissions can be reduced by 52.03% and 82% on average. In the case of drift eliminators, the difference ranges from 18.18% to 98.43% on average. As the emissions level is clearly influenced by operating conditions and components, regulation tests should be referred to default conditions. Finally, guidelines to perform emission tests and a selection criterion of components and conditions for the tested cooling tower are proposed.

ACS Style

J. Ruiz; A.S. Kaiser; M. Lucas. Experimental determination of drift and PM 10 cooling tower emissions: Influence of components and operating conditions. Environmental Pollution 2017, 230, 422 -431.

AMA Style

J. Ruiz, A.S. Kaiser, M. Lucas. Experimental determination of drift and PM 10 cooling tower emissions: Influence of components and operating conditions. Environmental Pollution. 2017; 230 ():422-431.

Chicago/Turabian Style

J. Ruiz; A.S. Kaiser; M. Lucas. 2017. "Experimental determination of drift and PM 10 cooling tower emissions: Influence of components and operating conditions." Environmental Pollution 230, no. : 422-431.

Journal article
Published: 03 March 2017 in Energies
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The energy consumption increase in the last few years has contributed to developing energy efficiency policies in many countries, the main goal of which is decreasing CO2 emissions. One of the reasons for this increment has been caused by the use of air conditioning systems due to new comfort standards. In that regard, cooling towers and evaporative condensers are presented as efficient devices that operate with low-level water temperature. Moreover, the energy consumption and the cost of the equipment are lower than other systems like air condensers at the same operation conditions. This work models an air conditioning system in TRNSYS software, the main elements if which are a cooling tower, a water-water chiller and a reference building. The cooling tower model is validated using experimental data in a pilot plant. The main objective is to implement an optimizing control strategy in order to reduce both energy and water consumption. Furthermore a comparison between three typical methods of capacity control is carried out. Additionally, different cooling tower configurations are assessed, involving six drift eliminators and two water distribution systems. Results show the influence of optimizing the control strategy and cooling tower configuration, with a maximum energy savings of 10.8% per story and a reduction of 4.8% in water consumption.

ACS Style

Clemente García Cutillas; Javier Ruiz Ramírez; Manuel Lucas Miralles. Optimum Design and Operation of an HVAC Cooling Tower for Energy and Water Conservation. Energies 2017, 10, 299 .

AMA Style

Clemente García Cutillas, Javier Ruiz Ramírez, Manuel Lucas Miralles. Optimum Design and Operation of an HVAC Cooling Tower for Energy and Water Conservation. Energies. 2017; 10 (3):299.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Clemente García Cutillas; Javier Ruiz Ramírez; Manuel Lucas Miralles. 2017. "Optimum Design and Operation of an HVAC Cooling Tower for Energy and Water Conservation." Energies 10, no. 3: 299.

Journal article
Published: 13 February 2016 in Applied Thermal Engineering
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Drift eliminators design should guarantee high collection efficiencies, for preventing cooling tower emissions, and low induced pressure losses, to reduce the energy consumption of the cooling system. CFD methods have become the main method to design drift eliminators. One of the major issues when predicting drift eliminator collection efficiency is to model the interaction between the water drops and the turbulent eddies. This paper aims to determine the best numerical approach to predict the performance of drift eliminators. The Reynolds Average Navier–Stokes (RANS) and Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence approaches are considered. Calculations are performed for a lath-type drift eliminator considering three different aspect ratios and a wide range of velocities and droplet diameters. The numerical results have been validated through experimental data. The computational expense is much higher for the LES approach (7–10 times). The RANS approach enhanced with a turbulent dispersion of droplets model has proven successful to appropriately predict the performance of the eliminator predicting almost the same results as LES but cost effective. No substantial differences are found between the predicted results by LES and RANS approaches: less than 3% for the pressure drop and 7% for the collection efficiency on average.

ACS Style

J. Ruiz; A.S. Kaiser; B. Zamora; C.G. Cutillas; M. Lucas. CFD analysis of drift eliminators using RANS and LES turbulent models. Applied Thermal Engineering 2016, 105, 979 -987.

AMA Style

J. Ruiz, A.S. Kaiser, B. Zamora, C.G. Cutillas, M. Lucas. CFD analysis of drift eliminators using RANS and LES turbulent models. Applied Thermal Engineering. 2016; 105 ():979-987.

Chicago/Turabian Style

J. Ruiz; A.S. Kaiser; B. Zamora; C.G. Cutillas; M. Lucas. 2016. "CFD analysis of drift eliminators using RANS and LES turbulent models." Applied Thermal Engineering 105, no. : 979-987.

Journal article
Published: 24 June 2015 in International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer
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A numerical modelling capable to simulate the drift and the evaporation of water droplets emitted by a mechanical cooling tower in an urban area is presented. The model is based on a real mechanical draft cooling tower situated in the surroundings of the Miguel Hernández University (Elche, Spain). An experimental study of the deposition of droplets from the cooling tower is done in order to validate the numerical modelling. This study is performed by means of the water sensitive papers technique. A biharmonic interpolation is used for obtaining the total deposition on the floor. A total of 14 cases, everyone with different atmospheric conditions, have been simulated and experimentally validated. An analytical model for the droplets lifetime prediction is validated with the results obtained from the numerical modelling. The present study shows the influence of the atmospheric and droplets conditions in the droplets lifetime, providing useful information to analyse the spread of contaminants or bacteria inside the droplets released from the cooling tower.

ACS Style

F. Sánchez; A.S. Kaiser; Blas Zamora; J. Ruiz; M. Lucas. Prediction of the lifetime of droplets emitted from mechanical cooling towers by numerical investigation. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 2015, 89, 1190 -1206.

AMA Style

F. Sánchez, A.S. Kaiser, Blas Zamora, J. Ruiz, M. Lucas. Prediction of the lifetime of droplets emitted from mechanical cooling towers by numerical investigation. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 2015; 89 ():1190-1206.

Chicago/Turabian Style

F. Sánchez; A.S. Kaiser; Blas Zamora; J. Ruiz; M. Lucas. 2015. "Prediction of the lifetime of droplets emitted from mechanical cooling towers by numerical investigation." International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 89, no. : 1190-1206.

Journal article
Published: 27 December 2012 in Atmospheric Environment
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Cooling tower emissions are harmful for several reasons such as air polluting, wetting, icing and solid particle deposition, but mainly due to human health hazards (i.e. Legionella). There are several methods for measuring drift drops. This paper is focussed on the sensitive paper technique, which is suitable in low drift scenarios and real conditions. The lack of an automatic classification method motivated the development of a digital image process algorithm for the Sensitive Paper method. This paper presents a detailed description of this method, in which, drop-like elements are identified by means of the Canny edge detector combined with some morphological operations. Afterwards, the application of a J48 decision tree is proposed as one of the most relevant contributions. This classification method allows us to discern between stains whose origin is a drop and stains whose origin is not a drop. The method is applied to a real case and results are presented in terms of drift and PM10 emissions. This involves the calculation of the main features of the droplet distribution at the cooling tower exit surface in terms of drop size distribution data, cumulative mass distribution curve and characteristic drop diameters. The Log-normal and the Rosin–Rammler distribution functions have been fitted to the experimental data collected in the tests and it can been concluded that the first one is the most suitable for experimental data among the functions tested (whereas the second one is less suitable). Realistic PM10 calculations include the measurement of drift emissions and Total Dissolved Solids as well as the size and number of drops. Results are compared to the method proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assessing its overestimation. Drift emissions have found to be 0.0517% of the recirculating water, which is over the Spanish standards limit (0.05%).

ACS Style

J. Ruiz; A.S. Kaiser; M. Ballesta; A. Gil; M. Lucas. Experimental measurement of cooling tower emissions using image processing of sensitive papers. Atmospheric Environment 2012, 69, 170 -181.

AMA Style

J. Ruiz, A.S. Kaiser, M. Ballesta, A. Gil, M. Lucas. Experimental measurement of cooling tower emissions using image processing of sensitive papers. Atmospheric Environment. 2012; 69 ():170-181.

Chicago/Turabian Style

J. Ruiz; A.S. Kaiser; M. Ballesta; A. Gil; M. Lucas. 2012. "Experimental measurement of cooling tower emissions using image processing of sensitive papers." Atmospheric Environment 69, no. : 170-181.