Humidity control specialist, Condair, has launched the Condair MC, a new in-duct evaporative humidifier and cooler.
A single unit is capable of supplying up to 360kg/h of humidity and around 245kW of adiabatic cooling to an air handling unit (AHU) from less than 0.15kW of electrical energy.
The Condair MC consists of an evaporative module and hydraulic unit, which sits inside the AHU, and a control panel located outside.
The evaporative module is a wall of corrugated glass fibre media cassettes, with stainless steel frames, through which the air flows. The hydraulic unit pumps water to the top of the evaporative module to wet the glass fibre media and humidify the air flowing through them.
Condair Australia manging director, Ian Eitzen, said the Condair MC is a great addition to its evaporative humidifier range.
He said with every kilogram of humidity provided by an evaporative humidifier around 0.68kW of adiabatic cooling is also achieved.
“This sustainable cooling technology presents great potential to reduce the carbon footprint of our built environment,” he said.
“We are seeing more and more air handling unit manufacturers and M&E consultants incorporating direct and indirect evaporative cooling strategies into their AHU designs.
“The new Condair MC incorporates many innovative hygiene, installation and operational features, making it an ideal solution for evaporative cooling or adiabatic humidification.”
Evaporative humidifiers can provide humidification during the winter to raise an indoor humidity level, as well as offer adiabatic cooling during the summer to economically cool an internal environment.
The main advantage over other in-duct spray humidifiers is that evaporative units can operate on mains water, without the need for a filtered RO water supply.
This greatly improves the water efficiency of the system. The benefit over in-duct electrical steam humidifiers is a reduction in energy cost. The energy required to evaporate the water can be taken from the airstream, if excess heat is available, or from cheaper gas-fired pre-heating.
Eitzen said the Condair MC incorporates robust glass-fibre evaporative media, which has a long operational lifetime and is impregnated with antimicrobial additives for hygienic operation.
The evaporative media has been independently tested and found to be non-particle releasing, and Euro Class A2-S2-D0 (UL 900) flammability rated.
As with any adiabatic humidifier, hygiene control is paramount and the Condair MC has automated flush and drain cycles, to ensure the water in the system is fresh and hygienic.
Any sustained period of non-operation will initiate a drain of the system to ensure water cannot stagnate. An optional submerged UV sterilisation system is available to kill micro-organisms in the water and further enhance hygienic operation.
The hydraulic module can incorporate up to three low energy, long-life pumps, with frictionless magnetic impellors that are almost silent in operation.
The pumps provide water to the evaporative module in stages, allowing more accurate control over humidification than single stage systems.
As the humidifier has multiple pumps, its energy consumption is proportionate to output. Electrical consumption ranges from just 74W, with only one pump operating, to 145W with three.
Condair MC’s control panel provides PCB controlled operation of the humidifier, BMS connectivity via Modbus, as well as LED indication of operational status and fault diagnostics.
The Condair Group operates globally with manufacturing facilities in Asia, Europe and North America. Condair has sales offices in 22 countries and international sales partners in more than 50 other regions.