This research work is focused on a conceptual combination of membrane-based energy recovery ventilator (ERV) and phase change material (PCM) to provide energy savings in building heating, ventilation & air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. An ERV can recover thermal energy and moisture between the outside fresh air (OFA) entering into the building and the exhaust air (EA) leaving from the building thus reducing the energy consumption of the HVAC system for cooling and heating the spaces inside the building. The membranes were stacked parallel to each other forming adjacent channels in a counter-flow arrangement for OFA and EA streams. Heat and moisture is diffused through the membrane core. Flat-plate encapsulated PCM is arranged in OFA duct upstream/downstream of the ERV thereby allowing for further reduction in temperature by virtue of free cooling. Paraffin-based PCMs with a melting point of 24°C and 31°C is used in two different configurations where the PCM is added either before or after the ERV. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and heat and mass transfer modeling is employed using COMSOL Multiphysics v5.3 to perform the heat and mass transfer analysis for the membrane-based ERV and flat-plate PCMs. An 8-story office building was considered to perform building energy simulation using eQUEST v3.65 from Department of Energy (DOE). Based on the heat and mass transfer analysis, it is found that the sensible effectiveness (heat recovery) stood in the range of 65%-97% while the latent effectiveness (moisture recovery) stood at 55%-80%. Also, the highest annual energy savings achieved were 72,700 kWh in electricity consumption and 358.45 MBtu in gas consumption.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1404519 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Mohiuddin, Mohammed Salman |
| Contributors | Zhao, Weihuan, Li, Xiaohua, Bostanci, Huseyin |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | viii, 59 pages, Text |
| Rights | Public, Mohiuddin, Mohammed Salman, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
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