Abdul Malek Abdul Rahman’s scientific contributions

Evaporative cooling window system (ECWS) using labu sayong integrated with mechanical ventilation and energy operated using solar electricity is one of the most preferable strategies to increase the indoor thermal comfort inside a building in hot-humid tropic countries like Malaysia. This system will help tackle the issue of increasing costs in keeping the home cool by managing energy consumption and also offers a better indoor environment. Through a preliminary study, the potential of labu sayong as a porous medium in ECWS was shown. Then, a pilot study was conducted in a real building under real hot-humid tropics climate. Despite having a limited time frame, the result still showed that there was a temperature reduction. As continuity from the pilot study, a series of experiments were carried out using the ECWS with labu sayong which was activated using a solar powered extractor fan invented using different parts. The study had identified the effectiveness of ECWS with labu sayong in reducing indoor temperature. An ECWS with five units of labu sayong the most appropriate strategy to be applied in hot-humid tropical buildings because this strategy has succeeded in reducing the temperature as much as-3.70ºC, thus achieving a 53.7% effectiveness of ECWS. This system was evidently effective as the result falls in the acceptable range which is between 50% and 75%. KEY WORDS: Evaporative cooling window system, labu sayong, reducing indoor temperature and hot-humid.

In reducing indoor temperature, evaporative cooling window system using labu sayong can be one of the alternative strategies. This system will help to tackle the issue of increasing costs in keeping the home cool by managing the energy consumption and also offers a better indoor environment. In preventing the issue of increasing energy cost, this system not only cools the indoor environment as cool as using air conditioning, but, it also relief from the indoor heat build-up. This review aims to investigate the potential of the evaporative cooling window system using labu sayong as an alternative reduction of indoor temperature environment in tropical Malaysia. As commonly known Tropical Malaysia is categorized as a warm and humid climate. Therefore, non-passive direct evaporative cooling system suitable for Malaysia. This system is integrated with mechanical ventilation energy operated by solar electricity as an environmental friendly concoction. The uniqueness of this system is using the labu sayong as a medium of porous material to provide a surface to saturate water. Through this combination, it will reduce the temperature in providing a better indoor environment.