Case Analysis of a Pump-Driven Heat Pipe Heat Recovery Ventilator in an Existing Experiment Building

Abstract

The building energy consumption is an important part among the total society energy consumption, in which the energy consumption for air conditioning occupies almost 70%. The energy consumption of the air conditioning system for fresh air handling can be saved effectively when the exhaust air energy could be recovered to preheat or precool the fresh air. Considering the install locations requirements on field, the pump-driven heat pipes (PHP) were developed as heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) and used in an existing experiment building in Beijing Urban. The thermal performance of the PHP HRVs was tested in real operation time periods under winter running mode. Both the power and heat consumption of the modular air handling units with and without HRVs were monitored and obtained, as well as the hourly power and heat consumption. The energy savings of HRVs were analyzed. The results indicate that the PHP HRVs can work steadily and meet the energy recovery need well. The temperature effectiveness of the HRVs can be kept from 60% to 70%. The test total energy saving rate was 24.48%, and the average hourly heat consumption reduced by 28.54%. The daily energy consumption can be saved by 118 kWh, and the energy savings can reach to 9440 kWh for a whole winter.