Patent ID: 8468846

Claim:
A two stage evaporative cooling apparatus comprising: a direct evaporative cooling component; and an indirect cooling component comprising: at least one module, said at least one module comprising: a plurality of units, each unit from at least two of said plurality of units comprising: a first polymer substrate; one surface of said first polymer substrate being rendered substantially hydrophilic; another surface of said first polymer substrate being substantially hydrophobic; a second polymer substrate; one surface of said second polymer substrate being rendered substantially hydrophilic; another surface of said second polymer substrate being substantially hydrophobic; said first polymer substrate and said second polymer substrate being adjacent one another and having a plurality of channels disposed between and attached to said another surface of said first polymer substrate and said another surface of said second polymer substrate; a first substantially compliant nonwoven material being disposed on and substantially fixedly attached at a plurality of locations on said one surface of said first polymer substrate; and a second substantially compliant nonwoven material being disposed on and substantially fixedly attached to at another plurality of locations on said one surface of the second polymer substrate; and at least two polymer strips interposed between and fixedly securing together two adjacent units from said at least two units from said plurality of units such that said two adjacent units are separated one from another; whereby during operation, an evaporative liquid is distributed to said first and second substantially compliant nonwoven material of each unit and a secondary fluid is conducted within a space separating each of said units with heat being exchanged between said evaporative liquid and said secondary fluid, and a primary fluid being conducted through at least some channels from said plurality of channels; said primary fluid being provided to the direct evaporative cooling component; during operation, another evaporative liquid is distributed to the direct evaporative cooling component with heat being exchanged between said another evaporative liquid and said primary fluid; a portion of said primary fluid, after flowing through at least said indirect cooling component, is provided to said indirect cooling component as said secondary fluid; the direct evaporative component being-positioned downstream from said indirect cooling component and receiving at least another portion of said primary fluid from said indirect cooling component.