Design and analysis of earth-air heat exchanger integrated into the building ventilation system

Abstract

Abstract This experimental study intent to design and to analyse the passive cooling effect of an Earth-Air Heat Exchanger (EAHE) integrated into the building ventilation system. For hot climate regions, ground thermal inertia can be used as a passive cooling strategy in the building ventilation where the air supply comes from outside with hot temperature. The proposed EAHE device consists of two main-components; a water tank and a PVC hose as a heat-exchanger between air and water in the tank. Fresh air from outside with a flow rate of 5.63 kg. min-1 is blown through a 2 ½-inch PVC hose, and cooled by the low water-soil temperature before being distributed into the room. To analyze the effectiveness of the passive cooling effect, measurements are performed for several parameters; inlet and outlet air temperature of ventilation ducts and indoor-outdoor air temperature using a multichannel thermocouple data logger for 48 hours of measurement time. The results present that the EAHE device can reduce the air temperature to a maximum of 10.6 °C. This proposed EAHE device presents good performance as a passive cooling technique for a building ventilation system, especially during the day.