Performance and feasibility assessment of a hybrid cooling system for office buildings based on heat dissipation panels

Conventional cooling systems in large office buildings typically incorporate evaporative cooling towers, despite the drawbacks of direct evaporation. An alternative approach is based on highly selective innovative surfaces capable of daytime radiant cooling, however, prototypes of these cooling radiators have not yet demonstrated a system capable of cooling an actual building. This paper presents a third approach: A hybrid cooling system designed to partly or completely replace a cooling tower using dry heat dissipation panels. Unlike nocturnal cooling radiators, these panels may be integrated into a facade in a vertical position. The hybrid system is described firstly, where two configurations of the system are considered. Then, an evaluation of the hybrid system in comparison to a conventional system is performed by means of a simulation-based study, resulting that the replacement of a cooling tower by cooling panels increases the annual energy consumption by 3.6% compared to a conventional open circuit cooling tower system. However, the decrease in maintenance costs may reduce the annual operational expenses by over 50%.