Parametric Analysis on an Earth-to-Air Heat Exchanger Employed in an Air Conditioning System

Diana D’Agostino, Francesco Esposito, Adriana Greco, Claudia Masselli and Francesco Minichiello
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Diana D’Agostino: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Francesco Esposito: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Adriana Greco: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Claudia Masselli: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
Francesco Minichiello: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Napoli, Italy

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 11, 1-24

Abstract: This paper is focused on the resort to geothermal energy, through the employment of an Earth-to-Air-Heat Exchanger (EAHX) positioned upstream of the air-handling unit of an air conditioning system, for an office building in Naples (South Italy). The aim is to evaluate the energy performances of this unusual system compared to the common solution of external air directly entering the air-handling unit. The EAHX is extensively designed and two-dimensionally modeled, and the analysis is solved with finite element method. The model is validated with experimental data and this comparison shows good agreement. With the requirement of providing the building with 1300 m 3 h −1 of external airflow, different design solutions for the EAHX are studied, by varying the diameter (in the range 0.2–0.5 m) and length (between 20 and 140 m) of the buried pipes. The results indicate that: smaller tube diameters enhance the heat transfer; a tube length between 80 and 100 m is recommended. Using the EAHX, the reduction of the thermal power of the coils in the air-handling unit is greater than 40% in most cases. Finally, the efficiency of the EAHX is assessed as a function of the tube length and diameter, reaching values up to 0.9.

Keywords: geothermal energy; earth-to-air heat exchanger; numerical model; parametric study; energy recovery; air conditioning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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