What Are the Advantages of Eco-Friendly Air Conditioners?

Water-cooled air conditioners belong to the evaporative cooling industry, and because customs vary across provinces in China, water-cooled air conditioners are also known as: eco-friendly air conditioners (Australia and Guangdong), energy-saving eco-friendly air conditioners (Guangdong, Guangxi), (mostly in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai), water-cooled air conditioners (Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi), coolers or air conditioners (Hong Kong and Macau); customers call them fresh air units or workshop air conditioners, etc. Since the evaporative cooling industry is a newly emerging one, with no general industry name or product standards, the industry has long been in a state of disorder with no industry standard regulation. A few years ago, the National Standardization Administration began addressing the industry and organized three standardization meetings; evaporative cooling products, including eco-friendly air conditioners, energy-saving eco-friendly air conditioners, coolers, water-cooled air conditioners, coolers and other evaporative products, are collectively referred to as commercial or industrial evaporative air coolers. At the same time, the finalization of the National Standard for Commercial or Industrial Evaporative Air Coolers filled the gap left by the industry’s disorder and lack of regulatory standards.

I. Reference Air Change Rates for Eco-Friendly Air Conditioners in Various Settings
Many customers are unfamiliar with the design method for air coolers. Every time engineers complete a design, some customers question why it was designed that way and why so many air coolers were designed. Reference air change rates for air coolers in various settings:
1. Definition of air change rate: air change rate (times/hour) = total indoor air supply volume (m3/h) ÷ {indoor area (㎡) × indoor height (m)};
2. The general air change rate is 25-30 times/hour;
3. Public places with dense crowds require an air change rate of 30-40 times/hour;
4. Places with dense crowds and high temperatures, or production workshops, require 40-50 air changes/hour;
5. For production workshops with high temperatures and heavy pollution, 50-60 air changes/hour are required;
6. In humid southern regions, the air change rate should be appropriately increased, while in hot northern regions it can be appropriately reduced. Water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners are used in either fixed or mobile configurations, and there are differences between fixed and mobile energy-saving water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners.

II. Installing Eco-Friendly Air Conditioners
Fixed installation of water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners: they are generally hung on exterior walls or fixed on the ground, and sometimes installed on rooftops—for example, some iron houses and concrete-structure factories are not suitable for rooftop installation. Energy-saving water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners deliver cooled and filtered air indoors through air ducts. For fixed installation, the energy-saving water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioner is mounted on a galvanized angle-iron frame equipped with guardrails. Usually, when designing a ventilation and cooling scheme, the eco-friendly air conditioner is set up as a fixed installation. The advantage of fixed installation is that it lowers the outdoor air temperature and filters it before it enters the room. It can also be fixed to exterior walls without taking up space.
Fixed and mobile water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners each have their own scope of application and should be selected based on a comprehensive consideration of the actual site and cooling requirements. It is recommended to use fixed energy-saving water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners in large areas with many people, while mobile water-cooled eco-friendly air conditioners can be considered for places with fewer people and larger areas.

III. Advantages of Eco-Friendly Air Conditioners
What are the advantages of water-cooled fans?
1. Low power consumption—only about one kWh per hour: compared with traditional air conditioners installed in the same area, the power consumption of a water-cooled fan is only about 1/9 that of conventional air conditioning.
2. Low investment, high efficiency: the total investment in water-cooled fans is about 1/2 that of air conditioning.
3. Extremely strong cooling effect: in southern regions, water-cooled fan units can generally lower the temperature by 5~10°C, and in hot, dry regions, the cooling effect can reach 5~15°C, with rapid cooling.
4. Good air quality: water-cooled fans integrate ventilation, air exchange, purification and cooling into one unit, increasing the oxygen content in the air and improving work efficiency. With positive-pressure fresh air operation, they filter out 80% of dust particles below the micron level, remove harmful gases, and effectively prevent “air conditioning sickness.”
5. Easy installation and maintenance: water-cooled fans can be installed vertically along exterior walls with an attractive appearance, taking up no indoor space, requiring no dedicated personnel for maintenance and saving on maintenance costs.
6. Wide range of applications: widely used in densely populated places, production sites with heating equipment or high-temperature heat sources, places with polluting gases, strong odors or heavy dust, and places with high air quality requirements.
7. Humidity adjustment: humidity can be adjusted in workplaces that require increased humidity.