An experimental study of a novel dew point evaporative cooling tower based on M-cycle

•The DPECT can achieve wet bulb effectiveness of up to 1.10 under special conditions.•The vertical arrangement had 5% higher wet bulb effectiveness than that of horizontal arrangement.•The air-to-water ratio of the DPECT should be around 1.26.•The maximum pressure drop of the novel fills was up to 132.5 Pa/m. A novel dew point evaporative cooling tower (DPECT) based on M-cycle was constructed and its cooling performance such as outlet water temperature, precooled air temperature and wet bulb effectiveness were experimentally investigated. The impact of different inlet conditions, such as arrangement methods of fills (vertical or horizontal arrangement of tubes), air-to-water ratio, inlet air conditions (dry bulb temperature and relative humidity) and inlet water temperature were also examined. Results showed that the wet bulb effectiveness of tubes that vertically arranged in DPECT was up to 0.97, which was 5% higher than that horizontally displaced, indicating that the vertical arrangement of tubes was recommended for engineering application. Moreover, it is recommended that the air-to-water ratio should be around 1.26. Under the condition of dry bulb temperature 30 °C, 30% relative humidity and inlet water temperature 30 °C, the DPECT can achieve wet bulb effectiveness of up to 1.10. It was confirmed that the novel DPECT could reduce the outlet water temperature below the wet bulb temperature of ambient air. Based on the experimental study, a feasible modification scheme to traditional industrial cooling tower was proposed. The study confirmed high practical potential of using M-Cycle in water cooling applications.