The Effect of Vibration on a New Fresh Air Heat Exchanger

Abstract

With the increasing of building energy consumption, the envelope of the buildings is becoming tighter to save energy. But this really causes the indoor air quality (IAQ) a problem for less infiltration, and as a result, people living in such buildings are showing a series of morbidities. To elevate the indoor air quality (IAQ), lots of fresh air should be taken indoor, thus will increase the energy consumption correspondingly. Fresh air exchanger which is devoted to indoor air quality (IAQ) and save energy at the same time is developed. Some researches proved that recycling the indoor air’s energy generally can save 70-80% energy, and the economic value is great. In this paper, a new type of fresh air exchanger using plastic membrane as heat exchanger is presented, it weights light while costs less. Because the velocity of air in the air-air exchanger is low, its flow belongs to the range of laminar flow, and thermal resistance mostly relies on boundary layer. Experiments are carried out to research vibration’s effect on the boundary layer. Lots of experiments present that the heat exchanged through plastic membrane can be enhanced by the vibration resulted from fluid flow. It is proved that this type of fresh air heat exchanger can improve the ratio of system performance and cost, and enhance the recovery percentage and have a long-term market outlook.