Effect of the Channel Height of the Enthalpy Exchanger on Energy Saving by Enthalpy Recovery Ventilator

Abstract

Nowadays, apartments as well as office buildings are built air-tight with heavy insulation to reduce the energy loss from air-conditioned indoor. In such buildings, mechanical ventilation becomes necessity to maintain proper indoor air quality. Ventilation, however, inevitably accompanies energy loss from the conditioned indoor air, which may be mitigated if enthalpy recovery ventilators (ERV) are used. In this study, annual energy savings by installing a 250 CMH ERV in an apartment or an office building of Seoul and Pusan area were assessed with special focus on the effect of channel pitch of the enthalpy exchanger. Separate tests were conducted to obtain performance data of the ERV. The largest energy saving was obtained for the enthalpy exchanger having the smallest channel pitch of 1.8[Formula: see text]mm. Annual energy saving calculated to gas energy amounted to 49 899 MJ for Seoul area. Both efficiencies and power consumption increased as the channel pitch of enthalpy exchanger decreased. In addition, both the temperature efficiency and the humidity efficiency were larger at heating condition compared at cooling condition.