Pulling from ancient cooling principles, the 'swamp cooler' remains important today
- Evaporative cooling, known as a swamp cooler, uses a fan to pull hot air through wet porous pads so the water evaporates and cools the air.
- The article says the basic cooling idea was used centuries ago in ancient civilizations and was refined in the United States in the early 20th century.
- America’s first evaporative cooling system was perfected by Oscar Palmer in Arizona in 1908.
- Swamp coolers became especially important in dry Southwestern states such as New Mexico and Nevada, where they can work well in low-humidity conditions.
- The devices are less effective in humid regions, and experts say there is growing interest in hybrid systems that can handle humidity separately.
- Even with widespread air conditioning, evaporative coolers remain a lower-cost, lower-energy option in places where climate and access make them useful.
Long before air conditioning became common in the United States, people in hot, dry parts of the Southwest relied on simpler ways to cool down. The article traces one of those methods, the swamp cooler, back to older cooling practices that used water and moving air to lower temperatures.
The modern evaporative cooler was refined in the United States in the early 1900s. AP says America’s first system based on evaporative cooling was perfected by Oscar Palmer in Arizona in 1908. The device works by drawing hot air through wet porous pads, where evaporation cools and humidifies the air before it enters a building.
By the 1930s, these coolers had spread across parts of the Southwest and helped make desert states more livable. They still matter today because they can be effective in dry climates, especially where air conditioning is limited or too expensive.
Experts quoted in the article said evaporative coolers are low-cost and low-energy options in the right conditions, but they do not work well in humid regions. As humidity rises in some places, researchers and companies are exploring hybrid systems that combine evaporative cooling with separate humidity control.
借鉴古老降温原理，“沼泽冷却器”至今仍然重要
在美国空调普及之前，西南部炎热干燥地区的人们就已经依靠更简单的方式降温。报道追溯了其中一种方法——“沼泽冷却器”——其原理可上溯到更早的古代降温做法，当时人们通过水和流动空气来降低温度。
现代蒸发式冷却器是在20世纪初于美国逐步完善的。美联社报道，美国第一套基于蒸发冷却原理的系统由奥斯卡·帕尔默于1908年在亚利桑那州完善。其工作方式是让热空气穿过浸水的多孔垫层，水蒸发后带走热量，并在送入室内前使空气降温、加湿。
到20世纪30年代，这类设备已在美国西南部部分地区普及，帮助沙漠州变得更适宜居住。它们之所以今天仍有作用，是因为在干燥气候中效果明显，尤其适用于空调不足或成本过高的地方。
报道援引的专家说，蒸发式冷却器在合适条件下是低成本、低能耗的选择，但在潮湿地区效果不佳。随着一些地区湿度上升，研究人员和企业正在探索把蒸发冷却与独立湿度控制结合起来的混合系统。