Performance Evaluation Of Evaporative Cooler Using The Predictive Mean Vote (Pmv) Model

Most of the developing nations like Nigeria intend to develop in a sustainable manner. This development cannot be realized if refrigerated-based air conditioning systems that are characterized by high power requirement, high cost and with a negative influence on t he environment are used as a means of achieving thermal comfort in living spaces. Evaporative coolers are viable options of achieving thermal comfort especially in hot and dry climates. These systems apart from their low power requirement, they are relatively cheap a nd have no negative impact on the environment. This paper therefore attempts to evaluate the performance of direct evaporative coolers using the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model. Further Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) was used to estimate the thermal comfort sat isfaction of people in the study area. The study reveals that the computed PMV for the months of January through December range from -0.92 to 0.86 on the ASHRAE scale of thermal sensations. The computed PPD for the respective months ranges from 10.2% to 15%. These va lues of both the PMV and the PPD show the high potential of using evaporative coolers in Kano and in areas with similar climate characteristic s.