An air washer is a device for conditioning air. In an air washer air comes in direct contact with a spray of water and there will be an exchange of heat and mass (water vapour) between air and water. The outlet condition of air depends upon the temperature of water sprayed in the air washer. Hence, by controlling the water temperature externally, it is possible to control the outlet conditions of air, which then can be used for air conditioning purposes.

In the air washer, the mean temperature of water droplets in contact with air decides the direction of heat and mass transfer. As a consequence of the 2nd law, the heat transfer between air and water droplets will be in the direction of decreasing temperature gradient. Similarly, the mass transfer will be in the direction of decreasing vapor pressure gradient. For example,

a) Cooling and dehumidification: tw < tDPT. Since the exit enthalpy of air is less than its inlet value, from energy balance it can be shown that there is a transfer of total energy from air to water. Hence to continue the process, water has to be externally cooled. Here both latent and sensible heat transfers are from air to water. This is shown by Process O-A.

b) Adiabatic saturation: tw = tWBT. Here the sensible heat transfer from air to water is exactly equal to latent heat transfer from water to air. Hence, no external cooling or heating of water is required. That is this is a case of pure water recirculation. This is shown by Process O-B. This the process that takes place in a perfectly insulated evaporative cooler.

c) Cooling and humidification: tDPT < tw < tWBT. Here the sensible heat transfer is from air to water and latent heat transfer is from water to air, but the total heat transfer is from air to water, hence, water has to be cooled externally. This is shown by Process O-C.

d) Cooling and humidification: tWBT < tw < tDBT. Here the sensible heat transfer is from air to water and latent heat transfer is from water to air, but the total heat transfer is from water to air, hence, water has to be heated externally. This is shown by Process O-D. This is the process that takes place in a cooling tower. The air stream extracts heat from the hot water coming from the condenser, and the cooled water is sent back to the condenser.

e) Heating and humidification: tw > tDBT. Here both sensible and latent heat transfers are from water to air, hence, water has to be heated externally. This is shown by Process O-E. Thus, it can be seen that an air washer works as a year-round air conditioning system. Though air washer is a and extremely useful simple device, it is not commonly used for comfort air conditioning applications due to concerns about health resulting from bacterial or fungal growth on the wetted surfaces. However, it can be used in industrial applications.