Abstract: Portable air conditioners (PACs) hold significant market potential due to their high flexibility and exceptional localized cooling capabilities. To address the issue of water shutdown in high-humidity environments, water-wheels can be installed at the bottom of the condenser of the PAC. Investigated the impact of different water-wheel positions on the performance of PAC under high-humidity environments. The results showed that the position of the water wheel had a great influence on the performance of the PAC. Among the four water wheels at different positions, the better the effect of the water wheel that could drive condensate into the high temperature area of the condenser, the higher the PAC’s EER, the strongest condensate removal ability. With the enhancement of the water splash effect of the water wheel, the evaporation pressure and condensation pressure of the PAC both decreased and the cooling capacity increased. Because the condensation pressure dropped more significantly than evaporation pressure, the input power got a decrease. What’s more, the higher the relative humidity of indoor air, the lower the sensible heat ratio of the PAC.

Key words: Portable air conditioner (PAC), Condenser, Water-wheel, Energy Efficiency Ratio