Air To Air Heat Exchanger



Heat Recovery

Heat Recovery

Heat recovery will ensure that part of hitherto wasted home energy is made use of for some useful purpose. One might find it hard to believe such wasted energy exist in his house. True it is more prevalent in industrial applications. But that does not mean your home is totally devoid of such wastage that can be reclaimed.

What is heat recovery?

Every building has an internal heat load generated within .Also certain amount of external heat from sources out side the system (such as oil, gas, electricity, solar etc.).The total heat energy thus incorporated in the building may or may not be utilized fully for the purposes intended and be rejected from the system. If not fully rejected at least a percentage of it will be. A portion of this wasted heat energy will be available for reclaim. The cost effective utilization of the reclaimed energy for offsetting the cost of space or water heating is therefore the ultimate aim of heat recovery.

Can all wasted heat in our Home Appliances and Heating Equipment be recovered?

Energy is wasted in every form of utilization that is why we talk of energy efficiency.

Unfortunately in many processes the consumed (and therefore the wasted) energy is insignificant for an investment in individual reclaim equipment. Some examples are Washing machines, Dish washers, Refrigerators, TVs, fans, lighting etc. But none the less they too contribute to the so called heat balance and the thermal storage of a house. As a part of the internal heat a certain portion therefore may be utilized usefully.

What are the processes where we can recover heat from?

In your home the biggest energy guzzlers are Heating/Air Conditioners and ventilation system which expel conditioned air for the sake of fresh air.

Air to air Heat Pumps, Water to water heat recovery in power generators and water cooled air conditioners, Heat Recovery wheels and heat exchangers in ventilation ducts and flues etc are other possibilities.

In larger applications like CHPs, turbines and chillers the heat is reclaimed through heat exchangers (mainly for industrial processes, district heating etc.).

Heat Exchangers for Heat Recovery

The exhausted air rich in thermal energy can be made to transfer most of it to the incoming fresh air if both streams are made to counter flow in an air to air heat exchanger. Thus the system heat is made to remain almost unchanged. Instead of a heat exchanger a desiccant type heat recovery wheel may be utilized though the underlying working principals are different. (The desiccant heat recovery wheel conserves energy through the recovery of latent heat against the sensible heat recovery of the heat exchanger.)

John Mahoney is a freelance author who writes about various RENEWABLE ENERGY topics including Heat Recovery .For more info contact www.techstore.ie

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com