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Impact of Intake and Exhaust Ducts on the Recovery Efficiency of Heat Recovery Ventilation Systems

Journal Article · · Energies (Basel)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020351· OSTI ID:1766873
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States); Cold Climate Housing Research Center, Fairbanks, AK (United States)
  2. Cold Climate Housing Research Center, Fairbanks, AK (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
The heat recovery efficiency of ventilation systems utilizing heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) depends not only on the heat recovery efficiency of the HRV units themselves but also on the intake and exhaust ducts that connect the HRV units to the outside environment. However, these ducts are often neglected in heat loss calculations, as their impact on the overall heat recovery efficiency of HRV systems is often not understood and, to the knowledge of the authors, a mathematical model for the overall heat recovery efficiency of HRV systems that accounts for these ducts has not been published. In this research, a mathematical model for the overall heat recovery efficiency of HRV systems that accounts for the intake and exhaust ducts was derived and validated using real-life data. The model-predicted decrease in heat recovery efficiency due to the ducts was in reasonable agreement (relative error within 20%) with the real-life measurements. The results suggest that utilizing this model allows for more correct ventilation heat loss calculations compared to using the heat recovery efficiency of the HRV unit alone, but more field studies are needed to verify the accuracy of this model in a wide range of applications.
Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); US Army Research Office (ARO); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC36-08GO28308
OSTI ID:
1766873
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA--5600-78834; MainId:32751; UUID:9f2521d5-5fe1-4234-8ea5-48ec0c70ebec; MainAdminID:19694
Journal Information:
Energies (Basel), Journal Name: Energies (Basel) Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 14; ISSN 1996-1073
Publisher:
MDPI AGCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (4)

Evaluation of an air-to-air heat exchanger journal January 1982
Use of Simulink to evaluate the air-quality and energy performance of HRV-equipped residences in Fairbanks, Alaska journal January 2008
Building energy-consumption status worldwide and the state-of-the-art technologies for zero-energy buildings during the past decade journal September 2016
Investigation on the performance of a heat recovery ventilator in different climate regions in China journal June 2016

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Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ducts
heat recovery ventilator (HRV)
recovery efficiency