Numerical investigation of the performance of a PCM-based renewable and exhaust heat recovery system for building applications

Abstract

A hybrid device consisting of a PCM-based photovoltaic/thermal system and a heat recovery wheel is introduced and its performance is examined analytically. This device is designed with the aim of supplying the heating load, cooling load and electrical load of a building and reducing the building's dependence on the air handling unit. The performance of the device at different hours on two days that represent the hot and cold days of a year, in different months and during a year for the weather conditions of Kermanshah, Iran, is investigated and then, the effect of the effective parameters on the annual yield of the device is checked. The investigation showed that by using the hybrid device, it is possible to provide 4.12–11.31 °C of pre-heating and 0.60–9.22 °C of pre-cooling of the outside air on January 15th and August 15th, respectively. Also, it was revealed that except in the three months of January, February and December, in the rest of the months the hybrid device is able to supply the entire thermal load required by the building. Finally, the total annual useful thermal power and electric power produced by the hybrid device was reported as 24776.49 kWh and 7747.66 kWh, respectively.