Modeling of an air-to-air exchanger with dual-core in cascade connection

Abstract

With the current leaning towards finding effective solutions to maintain a good indoor air quality (IAQ) inside houses and buildings and to simultaneously reduce the energy consumption, air-to-air exchangers with heat/energy recovery have emerged as one of the promising technologies to provide a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. To deeply evaluate these systems performances, the present investigation focuses on modeling a combined ERV-HRV exchanger using the effectiveness-NTU (ε−NTU) method. To this end, a detailed mathematical model introducing heat and mass exchange mechanisms was developed and applied to predict the system energy recovery efficiency. To assess its suitability, the developed model was validated and compared to real measurements which carried out under the Atlantic Canada weather. The comparison findings disclosed that the developed model can predict the system performance with a maximum relative discrepancy less than 10%.• The detailed mathematical model including heat and mass exchange mechanisms was clearly developed using the ε−NTU approach in order to carefully predict the dual-core system performance in terms of sensible and latent recovery potential.• The developed model was validated against real data to evaluate its suitability and accuracy. Obtained results show that it could be satisfactory for predicting the dual-core system performances.• The ε−NTU approach adopted in this study could be a convenient method for modeling single or/and dual-core air-to-air heat/energy recovery systems.