Dubai, UAE, 9 August 2018: Demand for adiabatic air inlet cooling has been steadily growing, said  Zafer Ure, Managing Director, Ecomesh. Speaking on factors underpinning its uptake,  Ure said that this is largely owing to the burden that the Middle East’s high ambient conditions place on the equipment, effectively shortening its life span, which has been a growing concern for stakeholders. “By cooling incoming air, one not only overcomes the high pressure and temperature shut downs, which require service engineer calls, but also extend the life of the compressor and the machine as a whole,” he said.

Providing a historical perspective, Ure said that the technology was first introduced about 20 years ago, when a number of manufacturers started to actively enter the Middle East market offering five years warranty on the compressor. “Compressors may last five years in the US or Europe,” he said, “but not in the Middle East and they found that they eventually have to replace the compressors earlier than the warranty periods. Installers end up losing money.” Thus, Ure said, they looked to mimic temperatures in Europe or the United States to close the gap with regard to the temperature difference and to increase compressor life. This, he said, is why Ecomesh was developed, as the additional air cooling provided reduces the refrigeration cycle head pressure and, effectively, discharge temperatures. The reduced discharge pressures and lower temperatures, he said, significantly increase the compressor life by reducing the mechanical stress, paving the way for more reliable operations and less maintenance.

Ure said demand for adiabatic cooling is also owing to poor design practices, making it an ideal solution not only for new developments but also, most importantly, retrofit projects. “Even if you install more than one chiller, in line with manufacturers recommended gap requirements,” he said, “that’s for the average ambient conditions in Europe. However, in the Middle East, wind pressure forces the discharge air to the next unit, then the next unit. It’s like a domino effect whereby the chillers along the line trip and shut-down. If you have 10-20 chillers in one location, generally on the roof or on the ground level, once the hot discharge air of one unit goes to the next unit, then it will go to the next unit.” This places a heavy burden on the system, making the installation unreliable, he said, and, more to the point, even if the units are not tripped, as most of the year chillers operate at 5-10 degrees C warmer ambient conditions than true ambient conditions, this translates to unnecessarily high running cost for the customers owing to higher energy cost and, in the long run, higher maintenance cost.

Ure said the shading provided by EcoMesh in front of the heat rejection coil overcomes solar radiation impact, resulting in 3-8 degrees C cooler incoming air. It also protects the chiller, he said, from damage from hail and sandstorms, prevalent in the Middle East. Additionally, it provides a self-cleaning filter to keep the coil clean. By keeping the coil clean, he said, the overall efficiency could be further improved by as much as 3-5%. Ure said that the UAE and Saudi Arabia has been a good market, citing a number of notable project references, such as Etisalat, DEWA, Ibis and many hotels and Haramain train stations, to name a few.

Hannah Jo Uy is Assistant Editor at Climate Control Middle East magazine. She may be contacted at hannah@cpi-industry.com