THE TRANSPIRATOR, A NEW EVAPORATIVE COOLER

Transpirators are light and efficient evaporative coolers which were p roposed for space-technology (Ernst and Alf [1988-1993]). Till now the y are constructed with commercially available materials. The cooling c apacity of single Transpirator-elements and of a Transpirator-cooler, equipped with nine elements, was determined. On the base of the experi mental results, a mathematical model for the calculation of the coolin g capacity was developed. Advantages of Transpirators are: No loss of evaporating coolant in liquid or solid state Low weight and low volume Good adaptability to different heat flows and different temperature l evels.