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2025

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What is an evaporative air cooler? Is it the same as a closed-circuit cooling tower?


An evaporative air cooler is an efficient heat exchange device that combines water cooling and air cooling. It utilizes the physical principle of heat absorption through water evaporation to enhance the cooling capacity of air, thereby achieving the purpose of cooling process fluids (such as water, oil, chemicals, etc.).

1. What is an evaporative air cooler?

Evaporative air cooler is a kind of water cooling combined with air cooling high-efficiency heat exchange equipment. It uses the physical principle of heat absorption by water evaporation to enhance the cooling capacity of air, thereby achieving the purpose of cooling process fluids (such as water, oil, chemicals, etc.).

Its main feature is that within a compact device, it simultaneously completes both "dry cooling" and "evaporative cooling" processes, making it more energy-efficient than a simple air cooler and cleaner and easier to maintain than traditional open cooling towers.

2. What is the working principle?

The working principle of the evaporative air cooler can be summarized as   "spraying water outside the tubes for evaporative heat absorption + convective heat exchange of fluid inside the tubes"   combined. The working process is as follows:

Spray water circulation The device has a water collection tank at the bottom. A water pump draws water from the tank and delivers it to the top spray system, which evenly sprays water on the outer surface of the heat exchange coils.

Forced ventilation A powerful fan at the top of the device draws ambient air from the bottom and side louvers, making it pass upward through the wet heat exchange coils.

Evaporative heat absorption Spray water forms a water film on the surface of the heat exchange coils. When air passes through, part of the water evaporates, absorbing a large amount of heat (latent heat of vaporization of water). This process greatly lowers the temperature of the coil's outer surface.

Heat exchange inside the tubes The high-temperature process fluid to be cooled flows inside the sealed coils. Heat from inside the coils is transferred through the tube walls to the cooler water film outside, and the heat from the water film is carried away by the evaporation process.

Discharge of hot and humid air The humid and hot air, having absorbed moisture and heat, is forcibly blown out of the top of the device by the fan and discharged into the atmosphere.

Water vapor replenishment Because some water continuously evaporates and to prevent excessive mineral concentration, the device is equipped with an automatic water replenishment system to maintain water level and quality.

Core principle Utilizes heat absorption by water evaporation as a highly efficient natural cooling method, making its cooling efficiency far higher than dry air coolers that rely solely on air temperature difference.

3. Is it the same as a closed cooling tower?

This is a very common question. The answer is: Basically the same, they can be considered different names for the same type of equipment.

From the perspective of structure, principle, and application, Evaporative air cooler and closed cooling tower refer to the same thing.

Their key common points are:

Core feature The process fluid circulates inside sealed coils, completely isolated from external air and spray water, avoiding contamination and loss.

Cooling method Both rely on evaporation of spray water outside the tubes and airflow to remove heat from the fluid inside the coils.

Minor differences (mostly industry naming conventions):

Different emphasis:

Evaporative air cooler   This name emphasizes it as an upgraded version of an "air cooler," highlighting its use of air as the ultimate cooling medium, commonly used in petroleum, chemical, and power industries.

closed cooling tower   This name emphasizes it as a type of "cooling tower," highlighting its tower structure and and evaporative cooling working method, commonly used in central air conditioning, injection molding, metallurgy, and other industries.

The structure may differ slightly Some closed cooling towers may be designed more like traditional cooling towers (square tower body), while some evaporative air coolers may be designed more compactly with more varied fan arrangements (such as blower or induced draft). But this is not absolute; nowadays, the external designs of both have become very similar.

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