Performance analysis of heat recovery in Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger on room air conditioning systems

Abstract

The air conditioning system is the most common way to provide comfortable room temperature for its inhabitants. However, the energy required for its operation is extremely high and cost-intensive. Therefore, a more efficient HVAC system with a lower energy consumption is desirable. The experimental results and performance analysis demonstrated that the outlet air temperature through the evaporator side of HPHE (precooling) has the potential to save some amount of energy utilizing an HVAC system equipped with HPHE. This research aims to study the performance of HPHE with the precooling process applied in commercial room HVAC system applications. This research on the utilization of HPHE for heat recovery in air conditioning systems was carried out with variations in temperature of fresh air intake ranging between 32–42 ℃. The airflow speed was set constant at 1.0 m/s. This experiment demonstrated the highest effectiveness at a value of 21%. The HPHE heat recovery analysis results show that the best heat recovery performance is achieved when the fresh air intake temperature exceeds the exhaust air leaving the room. The phenomenon was compared at a low fresh air intake temperature of 32 ℃, which succeeded in recovering 0.05 W, and when the temperature rose to 42 ℃, 0.21 W was recovered.