Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings

Earth–air tunnel ventilation is an energy efficient ventilation technique that makes use of relatively stable soil temperature in shallow ground for preheating and cooling of supply air to a building. During operation, an earth–air heat exchanger interacts with the soil and atmosphere and the perfor...

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Main Author: Gan, Guohui
Format: Article
Published: Oxford University Press 2015
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34697/
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author Gan, Guohui
author_facet Gan, Guohui
author_sort Gan, Guohui
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Earth–air tunnel ventilation is an energy efficient ventilation technique that makes use of relatively stable soil temperature in shallow ground for preheating and cooling of supply air to a building. During operation, an earth–air heat exchanger interacts with the soil and atmosphere and the performance varies with the soil and atmospheric conditions. A computer program has been developed for modelling of coupled heat and moisture transfer in soil and for simulation of the dynamic thermal performance of an earth–air heat exchanger for preheating and cooling of a building. The impacts of dynamic interactions between the heat exchanger, soil and atmosphere are illustrated from the comparison of the heat transfer rate, heat exchanger temperature and supply air temperature through the heat exchanger for both preheating and cooling. It is shown that neglecting the interactions between the heat exchanger, soil and supply air would over predict the thermal performance of an earth–air heat exchanger. Neglecting the interactions between the soil surface and atmosphere while assuming axi-symmetric distributions of heat and moisture transfer as well as soil properties around the heat exchanger is not only unrealistic but also would fail to produce reliable data for long-term operational performance of the earth–air heat exchanger installed in shallow ground. The performance of an earth–air tunnel ventilation system can be enhanced when operated for both winter preheating and summer cooling of a building.
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spelling nottingham-346972020-05-04T17:21:42Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34697/ Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings Gan, Guohui Earth–air tunnel ventilation is an energy efficient ventilation technique that makes use of relatively stable soil temperature in shallow ground for preheating and cooling of supply air to a building. During operation, an earth–air heat exchanger interacts with the soil and atmosphere and the performance varies with the soil and atmospheric conditions. A computer program has been developed for modelling of coupled heat and moisture transfer in soil and for simulation of the dynamic thermal performance of an earth–air heat exchanger for preheating and cooling of a building. The impacts of dynamic interactions between the heat exchanger, soil and atmosphere are illustrated from the comparison of the heat transfer rate, heat exchanger temperature and supply air temperature through the heat exchanger for both preheating and cooling. It is shown that neglecting the interactions between the heat exchanger, soil and supply air would over predict the thermal performance of an earth–air heat exchanger. Neglecting the interactions between the soil surface and atmosphere while assuming axi-symmetric distributions of heat and moisture transfer as well as soil properties around the heat exchanger is not only unrealistic but also would fail to produce reliable data for long-term operational performance of the earth–air heat exchanger installed in shallow ground. The performance of an earth–air tunnel ventilation system can be enhanced when operated for both winter preheating and summer cooling of a building. Oxford University Press 2015-11-24 Article PeerReviewed Gan, Guohui (2015) Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings. International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies . ctv029. ISSN 1748-1325 earth–air heat exchanger; heating and cooling; building ventilation; heat transfer; moisture transfer; dynamic interaction http://ijlct.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/23/ijlct.ctv029 doi:10.1093/ijlct/ctv029 doi:10.1093/ijlct/ctv029
spellingShingle earth–air heat exchanger; heating and cooling; building ventilation; heat transfer; moisture transfer; dynamic interaction
Gan, Guohui
Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
title Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
title_full Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
title_fullStr Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
title_short Impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
title_sort impacts of dynamic interactions on the predicted thermal performance of earth–air heat exchangers for preheating, cooling and ventilation of buildings
topic earth–air heat exchanger; heating and cooling; building ventilation; heat transfer; moisture transfer; dynamic interaction
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34697/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34697/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34697/