Comparative Study on Energy Consumption in Steam-Humidification- and Water-Spray-Humidification-Type Outdoor Air-Conditioning Systems for Semiconductor Manufacturing Clean Rooms

In modern large-scale semiconductor manufacturing clean rooms, the energy consumed by the outdoor air-conditioning system during heating, humidification, cooling, and dehumidification of the incoming outdoor air represents about 45% of the total air-conditioning load required to maintain a clean-room environment. In particular, the energy required for humidification of the outdoor air in winter is very high. Therefore, evaluation and comparison of the energy consumption in key humidification systems, viz., steam-humidification and water-spray-humidification systems, used in outdoor air-conditioning systems would be useful to reduce the outdoor air-conditioning load in clean rooms. In the present study, an experiment with an outdoor air flow of 1000 /h was conducted to compare the air-conditioning process and energy consumption in outdoor air-conditioning systems with electrodeboiler steam humidifiers and air-washer water spray humidification systems. The experimental results showed that the water-spray-humidification-type outdoor air-conditioning system consumed less electrical power than did the steam-humidification-type system and was more energy efficient during winter.