Investigating the Impact of Plumbing Configuration on Energy Savings for Falling-Film Drain Water Heat Recovery Systems

Ramin Manouchehri and Michael R. Collins
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Ramin Manouchehri: Solar Thermal Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Michael R. Collins: Solar Thermal Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-13

Abstract: Falling-film drain water heat recovery (DWHR) systems are heat exchangers utilized in residential buildings for recovering energy from greywater. A recent publication by the authors contained a validated model that can be used to predict the performance of DWHR heat exchangers under variable flowrates and temperatures, and this work shows the implementation of the model into Transient System Simulation Tool (TRNSYS) software to perform energy simulations. This work aims to show the different plumbing configurations in which DWHR heat exchangers could be installed, and to simulate their performance under various conditions. The results show that plumbing configuration has a significant impact on energy savings expected from DWHR heat exchangers, and maximum savings are achieved in equal-flow configuration. However, other plumbing configurations provide significant savings, and the mains temperature could dictate which configuration provides higher energy savings.

Keywords: falling-film drain water heat recovery; heat exchanger; TRNSYS; energy simulations; variable plumbing configuration (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: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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