Application of ground-to-air heat exchanger for preheating of supply air

Abstract

This study focuses on assessing the contribution of the passive ground-coupled air heat exchanger system to decreasing the energy consumption of air conditioning and ventilation systems for office buildings in the Latvian climate conditions. The theoretical part of the thesis deals with methods of office building ventilation, supply air preheating and heat recovery as well as particularities of using ground-coupled air heat exchangers, their design parameters and their joint impact on the thermal performance. The engineering project part includes a ventilation system for an office building with an integrated ground-coupled air heat exchanger. By simulating energy consumption of the ventilation system for a duration of one year, the thesis analyzes the contribution of the heat exchanger to the overall energy consumption, which totals 9.53 MWh and 4.02 MWh a year, according to the desired parameters of the indoor climate. The possible alternative heat recovery solutions are investigated to reach by European Regional Development Fund project Nr.1.1.1.1/16/A/048 “NEARLY ZERO ENERGY SOLUTIONS FOR UNCLASSIFIED BUILDINGS”.