How can I find or derive equations for an evaporative heat exchanger?

[sicjeff]

I am building an evaporative heat exchanger for my final project in a transport phenomena course in college. I am having difficulty in finding equations that I can either use or derive for my particular type of exchanger.

Does anyone have any ideas where I can find or derive equations to deal with both the condensation and evaporation.

 

[russ_watters]

An "evaporative heat exchanger" is also known as a cooling tower. Finding the capacity of a cooling tower is surprisingly simple. All you need to know is how fast the water is evaporating. To find that, you need to know the airflow and the moisture capacity of the air. ASHRAE and several other sources can give you typical weather conditions if that is what your air conditions are based on for this project. A psychrometric chart will tell you the properties of the air. Here's some info on cooling tower operation: http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/cooling-tower-efficiency-d_699.html

Hopefully, that will get you started...