Use of DOE-2 to Evaluate Evaporative Cooling in Texas Correctional Facilities

This study investigates the feasibility of using direct and indirect evaporative cooling systems for correctional facilities in two different Texas climatic regions with the DOE-2.1E hourly energy simulation program. The analysis is based on adding user defined functions to the DOE-2 SYSTEMS subprogram to simulate direct and indirect evaporative cooling configurations. The DOE-2 program was run with two weather tapes, one for Kingsville, Texas and one for Abilene, Texas during April, July, and October to resemble neutral, summer and winter weather conditions. The results showed that direct evaporative cooling is applicable in April for Abilene and October for fingsville. The indirect evaporative cooling is feasible in July for Abilene and April for Kingsville.