Experimental Investigations on the Thermal Performance of an Office-Type Heat Recovery Ventilation System

Considering the global energy crises and climate change, the importance of energy recovery grows day by day. At this point, heat recovery ventilation (HRV) systems contribute energy saving by the help of heat exchange in between the cold and hot air streams. Furthermore, the Covid-19 pandemic shows us that ventilation is an inevitable part of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC-R) systems to satisfy indoor air quality within the subregions of human-living constructions. In this experimental work, we use an industrial HRV system to examine the thermal performance under various air flow rates. The HRV unit mainly contains cold and hot stream fans, crossflow heat exchanger, air filter, and flow rate controller. The thermal scenarios are considered under winter climate conditions; therefore, temperature levels of the fresh and exhaust air streams are determined about 280K and 300K, respectively. In addition, thermal investigations are conducted with different mass flow rates. The temperatures are measured via thermocouples and collected by a precise multi-channel data logger. The results indicate that the investigated HRV system contribute both indoor air quality (complies with ASHRAE 62.1 standard) and reduction of air conditioning energy consumption.