This study aims to investigate the effects of ventilation rate, indoor air temperature, humidity and using a heat recovery ventilation system on indoor radon concentration and distribution. Methods employed include energy dynamic and computational fluid dynamics simulation, experimental measurement and analytical investigations. Experimental investigations primarily utilize a continuous radon meter and a detached house equipped with a recovery heat exchanger unit. The results of the dynamic simulation show that the heat recovery unit is cost-effective for the cold Swedish climate and an energy saving of about 30 kWh per  floor area per year is possible, while it can be also used to lower radon level. The numerical results showed that ventilation rate and ventilation location have significant impacts on both radon content and distribution, whereas indoor air temperature only has a small effect on radon level and distribution and humidity has no impact on radon level but has a small impact on its distribution.

Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are widely distributed over the world due to their capacity to adjust some local climate parameters, like temperature, relative humidity, cleanliness and distribution of the air until the desired levels verified in a hypothetical ideal climate. A review of buildings’ energy usage in developed countries shows that in the present this energy service is responsible for a portion of about 20% of the final energy usage on them, increasing up to 50% in hot-humid countries. In order to decrease this value, more and more different heat recovery systems have been developed and implemented over the last decades. Nowadays it is mandatory to install one of these units when the design conditions are above the limit values to avoid such components, what is possible to verify mostly in non-residential buildings. Each one of those units has its own performance and working characteristics that turns it more indicated to make part of a certain ventilation system in particular. Air-to-air energy recovery ventilation is based on the heat recovery transfer (latent and/or sensible) from the flow at high temperature to the flow at lower temperature, pre-warming the outdoor supply air (in the case of the winter). Therefore, it is important to understand in which concept those units have to be used and more important than that, how they work, helping to visualize their final effect on the HVAC system. The major aims of this study were to investigate the actual performance of the heat recovery units for LB20 and LB21 in building 99 at the University of Gävle and make some suggestions that could enhance their actual efficiency. Furthermore, the energy transfer rates associated to the heat recovery units were calculated in order to understand the impact of such components in the overall HVAC system as also the possible financial opportunity by making small improvements in the same units. To assess the system, values of temperature and flow (among others) were collected in the air stream and in the ethylene-glycol solution that works as heat transfer medium between air streams and is  enclosed in pipes that make part of the actual run-around heat recovery units. After some calculations, it was obtained that for the coldest day of measurements, the sensible effectiveness was 42% in LB20 and 47% in LB21, changing to 44% and 43% in the warmer day, respectively. The actual heat transfer representing the savings in the supply air stream is higher on the coldest day, with values of 46 kW in LB20 and 84 kW in LB21, justifying the existence of the heat recovery units even if those ones imply the use of hydraulic pumps to ensure the loop. The low values of efficiency have shown that both heat recovery units are working below the desired performance similarly to the pumps that make part of the same units.  This fact, together with the degradation of the units that is possible to observe in the local, indicates that a complete cleaning (followed by a change of the heat transfer medium) of the heat recovery units and a new adjustment of pumps and valves for the further changes, are necessary. By doing this, it is expected to see the year average sensible effectiveness increase to close to 45% in both units which will lead to a potential economic saving of around 41 000 SEK per year.

Since the building construction area is accounted for high share of energy usage (36 %) in Europe, there is high demand to pay attention to this area accurately. Sweden which is one of the pioneer countries in terms of building energy efficiency plans to reduce this value to 50 % by 2050. To reduce this value there is a need to define a mandatory guideline for builders by the government. So national board of housing, building and planning (Boverket) were given responsibility to define these regulations for builders and house owners. Parallel with that Swedish green building council developed a certification considering the buildin g’s energy demand, indoor air climate and environmental impact of building called Miljöbyggnad. While all the existing and new buildings following Boverket’s regulations meet this certification’s lowest limitations, some ambitious builders tend to fulfil its highest level of limitations called Gold level. This study aimed to design a house in the area of Smedjebacken to meet Miljö byggnad’s gold house’s energy category requirements. To meet the mentioned requirements several parametric studies regarding insulation thickness, windows assembly, heating and ventilation system are done via simulation software called TRNSYS. The result of testing several models show that although windows assembly does not affect this building ’s energy demand very much, other parameters such as insulation ’s thickness and type of heating system have a key role. In addition, a parametric study regarding the impact of thermal mass on the building energy demand is performed. The result shows that the effect of removed massive wood is compensated by replaced additional mineral wool insulation. In conclusion it is concluded that a single family house located in a cold climate like Smedjebacken using district heating cannot meet Miljöbyggnad’s gold level criteria without help of heat recovery ventilation. Furthermore, building with ground source heat pump as its heating system can meet Miljöbyggnad’s principals easier than those having district heating. In this case building with 200 mm insulation thickness even with exhaust air ventilation meets certification principals easily.

Master thesis deals with heat recovery in ventilation systems. Thes is an experimental measurement of the plate heat exchanger for a period of one year. Thes is Compaq es the efficiency of the heat exchanger manufacturer with achal field measurements. The first part describes the theoretical heat recovery systems, thein advantages and disadvantages, the basic formula for calculating efficiency. In the second part I come to the experimental measurements of the plate heat exchanger. There sult of this thesis is to Compaq the efficacy, showing behavior exchanger seasons and energy evaluation.

The importance of energy efficiency in the operation of the built environment is becoming increasingly important. Energy use in the building sector has exceeded both transportation and industry, while within buildings heating, ventilation, and air conditioning has the greatest share. In light of the recent pandemic forcing governments to issue quarantines and stay-at-home orders people are spending even more time indoors, this further emphasizes the importance of proper ventilation and the impacts on energy use. The purpose of this research was to perform a case study of a low environmental impact demonstration house to compare the energy performance of various ventilation strategies. The ventilation strategies varied by overall airflow rate, control strategy, and the presence of heat recovery. Performance was evaluated by establishing a model in IDA ICE, an equation-based modeling tool for the simulation of indoor thermal climate and energy use. The results showed energy savings due to demand-control with a reduction of 12.5%. Results also showed similar savings with a heat recovery system, indicating that any savings in heat loss due to heat recovery is at the expense of increased auxiliary energy. In this particular case, the benefit of upgrading to a heat recovery system from simple demand control set up is not readily apparent. Results also demonstrated trends and possible complications useful to future research plans that aim to measure real world ventilation performance, including how differences in the number and location of sensors impact the efficacy of the demand-controlled systems. A secondary aim was to observe how a newly constructed, low environmental impact home built in Sweden performs according the residential LEED energy budget. The results demonstrated that constructing a house using low impact materials with low embodied energy does not have to negatively impact energy performance, scoring extremely well in the Energy and Atmosphere category of a widely used sustainable building rating system.

The motivation of this project is found on the past trend of growing greenhouse gases emissions and, also growing, energy use over the world that still remains. This trend overlaps with a more recent increase in the awareness regarding the effects of human activities towards the Earth ecosystems. Thus, the upgrade of the already-in-use systems is necessary to move towards greener and more modern technologies that permit continue with the economic growth while building more sustainable societies. Thereby, the research focuses on the improvement of the ventilation system of a warehouse building and a cooking school located in the same plot, in an industrial area in Gävle, Sweden. The current system conditions, even consisting in some cases in recirculating air handling units, doesn’t permit the utilisation of the waste heat by bringing it back to the system. The strategy used during the project follows a case study scheme: looking the system, understanding it in a complete way and designing the proper solution that fulfils the requirements. The study was approached as an energy audit: with several meetings with the company, collecting airflows data with the thermo-anemometer device, sketching the required building drawings and designing the optimal solution for the company. Finally, the project resulted in the selection of the proper air handling unit, equipped with a heat recovery system, and the design of its ventilation duct system that permit a heat energy savings derived of the heat demand used to heat the makeup air of about 67 %. Furthermore, the occupancy study helped design the new scheduling for the ventilation periods that reduce the electricity demand of the ventilation system by 30 %. Thus, was obtained a significant energy use reduction that results in a sizeable energy cost saving.

The aim of this master project is to design a nearly zero-energy building of a guesthouse with a restaurant in the village Vrbice u Velkých Pavlovic. The project contains architectural-construction part and concept of building services. As the third part there is a design and concept of a wastewater treatment wetland system. The building has two floors. On the ground floor there is a restaurant, kitchen, reception and technical facilities, the premises of the 2 nd floor contain guest rooms. The structural system is designed from ceramic blocks with thermal insulation from mineral wool. Horizontal load-bearing structures and stair construction are designed from cast-in-place reinforced concrete. The building has a warm flat roof. The building has a mechanical heat recovery ventilation. For heating and water heating there is a heat pump and a condensing boiler, for cooling there is a multi-split and VRV system. The building also includes a storage reservoir for collecting rainwater and photovoltaic panels on the roof. The building site contains also an outdoor park, storage with carport and a garden with wastewater treatment wetland technologies and biotope lake. The project was carried out by the ArchiCad and Autocad programme.

Subject of this diploma thesis is a new building of nursery school in passive standards. The school has two floors. On both floors there are build two classes, each for twenty children. Structure is based on strip foundations and load-bearing walls are made from sand-lime blocks. The horizontal load-bearing structures are from cast-in-place reinforced concrete. School has green flat roof and above atrium has sloped roof. The shape of building is made by three circle segments with different radius. Ventilation of the building is ensured by heat recovery ventilation unit. Project is situated into an urban area of Brno, nearby the city center, on brownfield plot.

Ce travail porte sur l’étude et le développement d’un système innovant de ventilation et de chauffage au bois dans les habitations à basse consommation d’énergie, qui sont appelées à devenir la référence constructive en France dès 2015. Dans ces habitations fortement isolées et particulièrement étanches à l’air, les besoins de chauffage sont très faibles et peuvent être couverts par une source de chaleur d’origine renouvelable, telle que le bois énergie. En outre, l’utilisation d’une ventilation performante s’impose comme étant un critère essentiel pour assurer la bonne qualité de l’air intérieur et peut même devenir l’unique vecteur de chauffage en apportant l’appoint de chaleur sur l’air insufflé dans les différentes pièces de l’habitation. Le système présenté dans cette étude propose ainsi de combiner les avantages d’un appareil de chauffage au bois de petite puissance, ici un poêle à granulés de bois, et ceux d’une ventilation à récupération de chaleur sur l’air extrait, grâce à un conduit échangeur intégré à la cheminée du poêle et relié au réseau de soufflage de la ventilation. Développé en partenariat avec l’industriel POUJOULAT, spécialisé dans la fabrication de conduits de cheminée métalliques, ce conduit échangeur permet de récupérer sur l’air neuf une partie de la chaleur initialement perdue par les fumées et de la distribuer dans toutes des zones de vie de l’habitation, même les plus éloignées de l’appareil au bois. Après avoir défini la configuration de couplage à adopter pour assurer le bon fonctionnement de l’ensemble et garantir à la fois la sécurité et le confort des occupants, les performances de plusieurs prototypes de conduit échangeur sont caractérisées expérimentalement. Les résultats obtenus lors des essais en laboratoire permettent alors d’orienter l’évolution des prochains prototypes et de souligner la nécessité de travailler avec un poêle à granulés de bois dont le cycle de combustion est étanche. Un modèle mathématique est également développé pour prédire les performances du dernier prototype de conduit échangeur à triple paroi non isolé sur sa surface extérieure et sa validation est obtenue suite au bon accord entre les résultats calculés et ceux mesurés lors des essais. L’ensemble du système combiné est ensuite installé dans deux habitations à basse consommation d’énergie situées près de Poitiers. L’exploitation des températures et des consommations recueillies pendant la première saison de chauffe montre la bonne tenue du système combiné, ses limites, ainsi que ses conditions d’appropriation par les occupants, dont le comportement apparaît jouer un rôle prédominant dans la réduction des consommations énergétiques. / This work is devoted to the study and development of an innovative wood-based air-heating system for energy-efficient dwellings, which are expected to become the building reference in France from 2015 onwards. As these kinds of homes are highly insulated and particularly airtight, heating requirements are very low and may be covered by a renewable energy source, such as wood energy. In addition, efficient ventilation is absolutely required to ensure indoor air quality and may even sometimes be use as the only way to provide heat into the various rooms of the house. In this context, the system presented in this study aims to combine advantages of a low power wood-burning appliance, as a wood-pellet stove, and those of a mechanical ventilation heat-recovery unit, thanks to a heat exchanger integrated into the chimney of the pellet stove and connected to the ventilation air supply network. Developed in partnership with POUJOULAT, a metallic chimneys manufacturer, this new heat exchanger recovers a part of the heat from flue gases and enables to warm up the fresh air distributed in each living zone of the house, even the most remote of the wood heating device. After defining the best coupling configuration to ensure the proper behaviour of the system, as well as both safety and comfort of the occupants, performances of several heat exchanger prototypes are characterized experimentally. The results from tests in laboratory are then used to guide prototypes development and they highlight the need to work with a room-sealed wood-pellet stove. Moreover, a mathematical model is developed to predict the performances of the latest prototype of triple concentric tube heat exchanger with no insulation at the outer surface. Then, the model validation is obtained following the good agreement between calculated results and those measured during the laboratory tests. The combined system is then installed in two energy-efficient dwellings near Poitiers. Operating temperatures and energy consumptions collected during the first heating season show the good reliability of the combined system, its limitations and its conditions of acceptance by the occupants, whose behaviour is pointed out as a major factor in reducing energy consumptions.

För småhusägare finns ekonomiska incitament till att sänka det årliga energibehovet för värme och tappvarmvattenberedning, då det utgör huvudparten av det totala årliga energibehovet för bostäder i Sverige. Valet av värmesystem är därför ett viktigt då det kan medföra mer eller mindre gynnsamma ekonomiska konsekvenser sett över längre tidsperioder,då den mängd köpt energi som systemet kräver kan medföra besparingar som viktas mot den ekonomiska investeringen av systemet.Syftet med denna studie har därför varit att skapa ett referensunderlag över fyra olika värmesystem med jämförelser mot småhus av olika storlek, geografisk placering samt olikaisoleringsstandard, där det eller de mest ekonomiskt gynnsamma värmesystemen, sett över en 50-årsperiod, kan utläsas utifrån dessa parametrar.De småhus som studien har jämfört har bestått av enplanshus med tre antagna areor, 89,7/120/150,3 m2. Dessa har jämförts för Malmö, Stockholm, Sundsvall samt Luleå, varpå varje area har innefattat tre olika antagna genomsnittliga värmegenomgångskoefficienter, Umedelvärden. Studien har genomförts med energiberäkningar enligt gradtimmemetoden, och den ekonomiska analysen genom beräknade livscykelkostnader, LCC, för de olika systemkonstellationerna. Fyra värmesystem har undersökts: Fjärrvärme, bergvärmepump, luft-vattenvärmepump samt frånluftsvärmepump. Frånluftsvärmepumpen har inkorporerats som ett FX-ventilationssystem, frånluftsventilation med värmeåtervinning. De övriga tre systemen har för studien kombinerats med ett FTX-ventilationssystem, från- och tilluftsventilation med värmeåtervinning.Resultaten har påvisat att FTX-system, i jämförelse med FX-system, sänker för samtliga studerade byggnader i Malmö det årliga värmeenergibehovet, den energi som måste tillsättas byggnaden, med 36–71%, medan det i Luleå sänks med 32–61%. Den årliga energianskaffningen, den energi som måste köpas för att värmesystemen skall generera erfordrad värmeenergi och tappvarmvattenberedning, är genomgående lägst för systemkonstellationen bergvärmepump i kombination med FTX. Den systemkonstellationenmed studiens genomgående högsta andel köpt energi, är fjärrvärme i kombination med FTX.Vid jämförelse av livscykelkostnader, LCC, har påvisats att fjärrvärme i kombination med FTX är mest ekonomiskt gynnsam endast då det årliga behovet av köpt energi är mycket litet, och att det vid högre behov istället blir det dyraste alternativet. Frånluftsvärmepump utgör ett ekonomiskt gynnsamt alternativ vid majoriteten av analyserade fall, tack vare lägre investeringskostnader som väger upp de högre värmeenergibehov som ventilationstypen medför. Bergvärme i kombination med FTX, utgör det dyraste alternativet i de flesta fall därdet årliga behovet av köpt energi är lågt, men påvisar ekonomisk gynnsamhet vid höga energibehov. Luft-vattenvärmepump i kombination med FTX, är relativt likvärdig bergvärmepump men har ej påvisats vara det billigaste alternativet i något studerat fall. Vid jämförelse mellan frånluftsvärmepump och bergvärmepump i kombination med FTX, har påvisats att för studiens samtliga analyserade objekt är den största prisskillnaden, utslaget på 50 år, mindre än 1.800 kr/år.Utifrån de parametrar som presenterats, har påvisats genomförbarhet i att skapa ett referensunderlag över optimal gynnsamhet för värme- och ventilationssystem hos småhus, vilket avläses utifrån husets storlek, U-medelvärde samt geografiska placering. / For homeowners, there are economic incentives to reduce the annual energy demand for heating and domestic hot water preparation, as these constitute the main part of the total annual energy demand for houses in Sweden. The choice of heating system is therefore important as it can have more or less favorable economic consequences over longer periods of time, as the amount of purchased energy required by the system can lead to savings that weigh against the economic investment in the system. The purpose of this study has therefore been to create a reference framework for four different heating systems, comparing them across houses of different sizes, geographical locations, and insulation standards, to identify the most economically beneficial heating systems over a 50-year period, that can be interpreted based on these parameters. The houses compared in the study were single-story houses with three assumed sizes: 89.7/120/150.3 m². They have been compared in Malmö, Stockholm, Sundsvall and Luleå, with each size having three different assumed average thermal transmittance values, average U-values. The study was conducted using energy calculations based on the degree-hour method, and the economic analysis was performed using calculated life cycle costs, LCC, for the different system configurations. Four heating systems were investigated: district heating, geothermal heat pump, air-to-water heat pump, and exhaust air heat pump. The exhaust air heat pump was incorporated as an MEVHR ventilation system, mechanical exhaust air ventilation with heat recovery, while the other three systems were combined with an HRVventilation system, mechanical exhaust and supply air ventilation with heat recovery. The results have shown that HRV systems, compared to MEVHR systems, reduce the annual heating energy demand, the amount of energy that must be supplied to the building, for all studied buildings in Malmö by 36-71%, while in Luleå it is reduced by 32-61%. The annual energy procurement, the amount of energy that must be purchased for the heating systems to generate the required heating energy and domestic hot water preparation, is consistently lowest for the geothermal heat pump system combined with the HRV. The system configuration with the highest proportion of purchased energy throughout the study is district heating combined with HRV. When comparing life cycle costs, LCC, it was found that district heating combined with HRVis the most economically beneficial system only when the annual demand for purchased energy is very low, and becomes the most expensive option at higher demands. The exhaust air heat pump is a cost-effective option in the majority of analyzed cases, thanks to lower investment costs that offset the higher heating energy demand induced by this type of ventilation. Geothermal heat pump combined with the HRV is the most expensive option in most cases when the annual demand for purchased energy is low but shows economic advantages at high energy demands. The air-to-water heat pump combined with the HRV is relatively similar to the geothermal heat pump but has not been shown to be the cheapest option in any of the studied cases. When comparing the exhaust air heat pump with the geothermal heat pump combined with the HRV, it is found that for all objects analyzed in the study, the largest price difference is, averaged over 50 years, less than 1,800 SEK/year. Based on the presented parameters, the feasibility of creating a reference framework for the cost-effectiveness of heating and ventilation systems in houses has been demonstrated, which can be assessed based on the house size, U-value, and geographical location.