Low profile evaporative cooler

An evaporative cooler assembly for conditioning air comprising:

• a refrigerant tank having a top surface extending between a pair of tank ends and a rectangular cross-section and defining a refrigerant cavity for housing a refrigerant;
• said top surface of said refrigerant tank defining a plurality of tube slots being generally rectangular and spaced axially along said top surface of said refrigerant tank between said tank ends;
• a plurality of tubes each having an interior surface and a generally rectangular cross-section and defining a wet air passage extending between a refrigerant inlet end and a wet air outlet end for producing a wet air stream,
• said refrigerant inlet end of each tube disposed in said refrigerant cavity for contacting said refrigerant;
• each of said tubes extending through one of said tube slots and perpendicularly to said refrigerant tank in a spaced and parallel relationship to one another with said wet air passages being in fluid communication with said refrigerant cavity;
• each of said tubes including at least one divider extending between said refrigerant inlet end and said wet air outlet end to define a plurality of said wet air passages and for reinforcing said tube;
• a wicking material disposed on said interior surface and said dividers of each of said tubes for conveying refrigerant from said refrigerant cavity into said tubes;
• a plurality of cooling fins extending between adjacent tubes to define a plurality of dry air passages extending transversely to said tubes and parallel to said tank ends for receiving a dry air stream and for transferring heat from the dry air stream to said tubes;
• a plurality of top plates each extending between said wet air outlet ends of adjacent tubes;
• each of said tubes defining a plurality of orifices in fluid communication with said corresponding wet air passages and said adjacent dry air passages for diverting a portion of the dry air stream from said dry air passages to said wet air passages for producing the wet air stream;
• a first air duct defining a first duct passage disposed on said top surface of said refrigerant tank and adjacent said tubes with said first duct passage being in fluid communication with said dry air passages for receiving the dry air stream;
• a second air duct defining a second duct passage disposed on said top surface of said refrigerant tank and adjacent said tubes with said tubes being disposed between said air ducts and said second duct passage being in fluid communication with said dry air passages for receiving the dry air stream;
• a plurality of flow separators being spaced axially along said top surface of said refrigerant tank and disposed alternately in said air ducts for diverting the dry air stream in said air ducts;
• and
• one of said air ducts being spaced from each of said tank ends to define a dry air inlet and a dry air outlet;
• whereby the dry air stream flows through said dry air inlet and sequentially through a portion of said dry air passages and into one of said duct passages defined by said corresponding air duct and is deflected by one of said flow separators disposed in said corresponding air duct and through another portion of said dry air passages and into the other of said duct passages defined by the other of said air ducts and is deflected by one of said flow separators disposed in the other of said air ducts until the dry air stream flows out of said dry air outlet as conditioned air.