Performance Improvement of Condensation Reduction and Removal in Heat Recovery Ventilators Using Purge Methods

Kwiyoung Park, Dongchan Lee, Hyun Joon Chung and Yongchan Kim
Additional contact information
Kwiyoung Park: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Korea
Dongchan Lee: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Korea
Hyun Joon Chung: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Korea
Yongchan Kim: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Korea

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-12

Abstract: In this study, several purge and ventilation methods are proposed to reduce and remove condensation in a heat recovery ventilator for commercial and household buildings. The effects of the airflow rate, duration of ventilation, purge interval, and return air temperature on the quantities of condensation and condensation removal in the heat recovery ventilator are analyzed. The increase in the air flow rate and return air temperature increases the condensation removal rate owing to the enhanced evaporation of the condensate. Furthermore, the reductions in the duration of ventilation and purge interval decreased the accumulation of condensate on the heat exchanger element. Based on the experimental results, optimum ventilation and purge strategies are proposed according to the outdoor temperature. The operation of the heat recovery ventilator with the proposed ventilation and purge strategies shows at least a 33% and up to an 80% reduction in the quantity of condensate compared with a given operation method. Accordingly, the proposed operation strategies can significantly reduce the growth of microorganisms and fungi and also increase the efficiency of a heat recovery ventilator. However, further investigation on the detailed performance according to the outdoor humidity and overall energy analysis is necessary to supplement the limitations of this study.

Keywords: condensation reduction; heat recovery ventilator; ventilation; purge (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 complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6152/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/22/6152/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:13:y:2020:i:22:p:6152-:d:449823

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().