Study on Counter-flow Air to Air Heat Exchange for Air Handling Unit of Smart Buildings

Abstract

Minimizing the energy consumption is a major factor for all smart buildings. As a result, heat exchangers are used for energy recovery. The simplest heat exchanger is tube-in-tube type, in which the counter-flow type is the most efficient. In this paper, counter-flow air to air heat exchanger is studied, using a lab scale model. Four temperature-humidity sensors are used to measure the input and output parameters for every end of each tube. The performance of heat exchanger is analyzed by means of experimental results. Different values of inlet temperature and humidity of hot air flow are applied, and spatial and temporal variable distributions are analyzed. The efficiency of heat exchanger can be observed even for small steps of inlet values.