Dehumidification performance of air conditioning systems in supermarkets: Field demonstration with heat pipe heat exchangers in Delchamps Supermarket, Gulf Breeze, Florida. Final report
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Joint Center for Energy Management
As part of an effort to help supermarkets optimize energy use and costs, Gulf Power Company and EPRI collaborated on a project to evaluate specialized dehumidification equipment in a 35,000 ft{sup 2} Delchamps supermarket in Florida that experiences very humid conditions. The field study found that adding a heat pipe heat exchanger to the HVAC system increased dehumidification latent capacity and efficiency nearly 30% under typical summer operating conditions. Independently reducing the airflow over the cooling coil improved dehumidification efficiency 17%. Combining the two options yielded a dehumidification improvement of 42%. Simulation results validated by field tests provided a valuable opportunity to quantify energy use patterns and cooling and heating requirements in supermarkets and to compare HVAC system operation under different configurations and control strategies. Findings confirmed that heat pipe heat exchangers provided an optimum solution for this application. However, dehumidification system performance is extremely sensitive to minor changes in operating conditions and building loads. In particular, controlling infiltration and ventilation to minimum acceptable levels is crucial. Coil temperatures must also be kept low during part-load conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Joint Center for Energy Management, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 270762
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-TR--106065
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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