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Heat exchangers -Test procedures
for establishing performance of air
to air and flue gases heat recovery
devices
The European Standard EN 308:1997 has the
status of a Swedish Standard. This document con-
tains the official English version of EN 308:1997.
This standard supersedes the Swedish Standard
SS-ENV 308.
Swedish Standards corresponding to documents
referred to in this Standard are listed in
“Catalogue of Swedish Standards”, issued by SIS.
The Catalogue lists, with reference number and
year of Swedish approval, International and Euro-
pean Standards approved as Swedish Standards as
well as other Swedish Standards.
Värmeväxlare - Värmeåtervinnings-
aggregat - Provningsmetoder för
prestationsdata
Europastandarden EN 308:1997 gäller som svensk
standard. Detta dokument innehåller den offici-
ella engelska versionen av EN 308:1997.
Standarden ersätter SS-ENV 308.
Motsvarigheten och aktualiteten i svensk standard
till de publikationer som omnämns i denna stan-
dard framgår av “Katalog över svensk standard”,
som ges ut av SIS. I katalogen redovisas interna-
tionella och europeiska standarder som fastställts
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EUROPEAN STANDARD EN 308

EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄlSCHE NORM January 1997

ICS 27.060.30 Supersedes ENV 308:1990

Descriptors: heat transfer, heat exchangers, regenerative heaters, definitions, tests, measurement, thermodynamic properties

English version
Heat exchangers -Test procedures for establishing
performance of air to air and flue gases
heat recovery devices

Echangeurs thermiques Procédures d’essai Wärmeaustauscher Prüfverfahren zur

pour la détermination de la performance des Bestimmung der Leistungskriterien von
récupérateurs de chaleur air/air et air/gaz Luff/Luft- und Luft/Abgas -
Wärmerückgewinnungsanlagen

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 1996-12-27. CEN members are
bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the
conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard
without any alteration.
Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards
may be obtained on application to the Central Secretariat or to any CEN member.
The European Standards exist in three official versions (English, French, German).
A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a
CEN member into its own language and notified to the Central Secretariat has the
same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Nether-
lands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

CEN
European Committee for Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation
Europäisches Komitee für Normung
Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 36, B-1050 BRUSSELS

© 1997 Copyright reserved to CEN members

Ref. No. EN 308:1997 E
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EN 308:1997

Foreword
European Standard has been prepared by
Technical Committee CEN/TC 110, Heat exchangers,
the secretariat of which is held by BSI.
This European standard supersedes ENV 308 : 1990.
This European standard shall be given the status of a
national standard, either by publication of an identical
text or by endorsement, at the late& by July 1997, and
conflicting national Standards shall be withdrawn at
the latest by July 1997.
According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations,
the national standards organizations of the following
counties are bound to implement this European
Standard: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
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EN 308:1997

Introduction 2 Normative references

This European Standard is one of a series of European This European Standard incorporates by dated or
Standards dedicated heat exchangers. undated reference, provisions from other publications.
These normative references are cited at the
appropriate places in the text and the publications are
1 Scope listed hereafter. For dated references, subsequent
This European Standard specifies methods be used amendments to or revisions of any of these
for laboratory testing of air-to-air heat recovery devices publications apply to this European Standard only
or those recovering heat from flue gases of heating when incorporated in it by amendment or revision. For
appliances in buildings (except process-process undated references the latest edition of the publication
applications) to obtain rating data. It gives test referred to applies.
requirements and procedures for performing such tests
and specifies input criteria required for tests to verify prEN 247 Heat exchangers - Terminology
performance data given by the manufacturer. EN 305 Heat exchangers - Definitions of
For the purposes of this standard, the term exhaust air perfomance of heat exchangers and the
may also be taken to mean the products of general test procedure for establishing
combustion. performance of all heat exchangers
This European Standard is intended to be used as a prEN 306 Heat exchangers - Methods of measuring
basis for testing heat recovery devices for HVAC parameters necessary for establishing the
systems, which as specified in prEN 247 consist of the performance
heat exchanger itself installed in a casing having the
necessary air duct connecting elements and in some prEN 307 Heat exchangers - Guidelines to prepare
cases the fans and pumps, but without any additional installation, operating and maintenance
components of the HVAC system. instructions required to maintain the
performance of each type of heat exchanger
This European Standard is applicable to the following
categories of heat exchangers:
3 Symbols and subscripta
category I Recuperators
category II With intermediary heat transfer
medium
Category IIa: without phase-change
Category Ilb: with phase-change
(heat pipe,..)
category III Regenerators (containing accumulating
mass)
Category IIIa: non hygroscopic
Category IIIb: hygroscopic
Heat recovery devices with exchangers and
intermediary heat transfer medium without
phase-change (category IIa) are to be tested as one unit
including pump and pipe system between the coils.
This European Standard prescribes test methods for
determining:
a) the external leakage;
b) the internal leakage of exhaust air to the supply
air within the device at a given pressure difference
between air ducts, for recovery devices of
categories I and II,
c) the carry-over of exhaust air to the supply air in
recovery devices of category III;
d) the temperature and humidity ratios;
e) the pressure drop of exhaust air and supply air
sides.
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EN 308:1997
Subscripts
nominal
external air leakage, negative pressure
external air leakage, positive pressure
internal air leakage
carryover air leakage
wet bulb
measure
4 Definitions
For the purposes of this European Standard, the
definitions of prEN 247 and the following definitions
apply.
4.1 heat recovery device
Heat recovery devices are heat exchangers or
combinations of these which transfer heat and, in
some cases, moisture between exhaust and supply air
flows depending on the differential of temperature and
humidity levels
Heat recovery devices are generally installed in casings
with suitable air-duct connections.
The heat recovery devices are divided into three
categories, as defined in clause 1.
4.2 mass flows
The mass-flow rate supply air outlet, and
exhaust air inlet, are used as reference values.
These are the mass flows that enter or leave on the
application side.
4.3 ratios
The temperature and humidity ratios of the device are
defined on the supply-air side according to:
NOTE. To avoid confusion, no definitions of ratio on the exhaust
air side are inch&d. The ratio defined on the supply air side has
been chosen, because the temperature and humidity of the supply
air are the main criteria in sizing recovery devices. If data on the
exhaust air side is required conditions can be calculated by heat
and mass balances.
4.4 external leakage
External leakage is the leakage to or from air flowing
through the heat recovery device to or from the
environment
4.5 internal leakage
Internal leakage is the air leakage between the primary
and secondary air flows in a heat recovery device.
4.6 internal exhaust air leakage
The internal exhaust air leakage is the internal air
leakage from the exhaust air side to the supply air side
of a recovery device
4.7 carry-over air flow
Carryover air flow is the transfer of exhaust air into
the supply air side in a heat recovery device of
category III at over pressure on the supply air side.
4.8 reference conditions
The reference condition for air is air with a density of
a dynamic viscosity of
and an absolute pressure of 101,3 kPa (1013 Bar). Air
at 20,0 °C, 50 % relative humidity and 101,3 kPa has
approximately these properties.
4.9 pressure
Relative pressures an measured as difference to the
atmospheric pressure. Unless otherwise specified the
term pressure is used for relative pressure.
NOTE 1. Absolute pressure is used for air and fluids properties
calculation.
NOTE 2. Pressure drop is the pressure difference along a circuit.
6 General requirements
The European Standards EN 305, prEN 306, prEN 307
shall apply where appropriate and not otherwise stated
in the following clauses.
6.1 Heat recovery device
The heat recovery device to be tested shall be installed
in a test rig in accordance with the manufacturer's
published instructions.
6.2 External leakage
The air tightness is established by the external leakage
at positive and negative pressures of 400 Pa The
external leakage shah be determined using the test
arrangement as described in 6.1, with mean positive
and negative pressures of 400 Pa relative to ambient
condition on supply and exhaust air sides respectively
The measured mass flow rates
external leakage flow rates, shall be recorded in the
test report as a percentage of the nominal air flow
Air density during measurements shall
be between outside this
range the measurements taken shah be corrected to
reference conditions.
If the recovery device is constructed without any
common wall between the supply and exhaust air
sides, the external leakage can be determined for the
supply and exhaust air exchangers separately at 400 Pa
positive and/or negative pressure and summated to
indicate the external leakage for the whole recovery
device.
For those recovery devices which are intended for use
in systems with static pressures of 250 Pa or below, the
external leakage may be determined at 250 Pa instead
of 400 Pa This fact shall clearly be stated in the test
report
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6.3 Internal exhaust air leakage
The air leakage between the two sides in a recovery
device is represented by the exhaust air leakage, mass
fIow rate into the supply air side with a pressure
of 250 Pa in the exhaust side and 0 Pa in the supply-air
side, using the test arrangement described in 6.2. Air
density during the measurements shall be between
outside this range the
measurements taken shall be corrected to reference
conditions.
NOTE 1. Measurements taken with 0 Pa pressure on the supply air
side give the internal exhaust air leakage only, excluding any
casing leakage.
The internal leakage shall be determined for recovery
devices belonging to categories I and IIa and shall be
recorded in the test report as a percentage of the
nominal air flow However, the internal
leakage test is not applicable for category II devices
without any common wall between the supply and
exhaust air sides.
For those recovery devices of category I, which are
designed for use in systems with static pressures of
250 Pa or below, the internal exhaust air leakage may
be determined at a pressure of only 100 Pa on the
exhaust air side. This fact shall clearly be stated in the
teat report
NOTE 2. The internal exhaust air leakage of these recovery
devices depends on their design and construction. As these can
vary and the design pressures on the two air sides are not
normally known it is necessary to ascertain the degree of sir-loss.
NOTE 3. The tracer gas technique can also be applied for
measuring the internal exhaust air leakage for category I and in
some cases for category II.
Recovery devices for category III (for example, rotating
regenerators) are known to be subject to leakage and
the leakage flow rate depends on the effectiveness of
the seals. Therefore, these devices are usually installed
with overpressure on the supply air side and data for
leakage of supply air into the exhaust air side is
normally given by the manufacturer. Even with this
pressure requirement some small amount of internal
leakage (of exhaust air into the supply air side) will be
obtained by the rotation of the rotor, the so called
carry-over. However, this carry-over cannot be
ascertained with the above described test method for
internal leakage.
6.4 Carry-over
For recovery devices belonging to category III the
carry-over mass flow rate of exhaust air into the
supply air side shall be determined at a static pressure
difference and shall be
performed using a tracer gas to comply with the
procedure detailed in 6.3. The carry-over shall be
recorded in the test report as a percentage of the
Supply air flow
If the carry-over exceeds 3 % the pressure difference
which gives a carry-over of 3 % shall be
determined before carrying out the efficiency tests.
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EN 308:1997
The purge sector shall be adjusted in accordance with
the recommendations of the manufacturer the rotor in
the case of rotating regenerators, shall be driven at the
nominal rotor speed indicated by the manufacturer.
The air mass flows at duct sections 22 to 11 shall be
both equal to each other and equal to the nominal air
flow rate of the recovery device indicated by
the manufacturer. Air density during the measurements
will be between outside
this range the measurements taken shall be corrected
to reference conditions.
5.5 Temperature and humidity ratios
The temperature ratio and the humidity ratio (for
category IIIb) defined on the supply air side of a
recovery device shall be determined in accordance
with 6.4 for different supply and exhaust air mass flow
rates on the application side
The tests shall be conducted with a static pressure
difference of 0 Pa to 20 Pa between duct sections 22
and 11, section 11 being at the lower pressure.
However, those devices of category II, which are
constructed without any common wall between the
supply and exhaust air sides, can be tested without
this requirement
NOTE 1. This pressure difference requirement results in a higher
static pressure on the supply air side than on the exhaust air side.
Thus, all air leakage will be directed from supply to exhaust air
and the measured efficiency will decrease with increasing leakage.
Furthermore, because the mass flow rates at sections
22 and 11 represent the actual flow rates through the
heat exchanger at this pressure requirement the
efficiency will be only minimally influenced by the
leakage.
For recovery devices with air flow rates below
the casings shall be insulated before the
efficiency tests, in order to decrease the influence of
the ambient air conditions on the results. The
insulation material shall have a thermal resistance of at
least This figure corresponds to about
50 mm of insulation material.
In any case, the heat balances defined in 6.6 shall not
exceed ± 5 %.
The ambient temperature of the recovery device shall
be maintained between 17 °C and 27 °C during the teat,
except for warm climates where the range of
temperature may be between 25 °C and 35 °C.
Temperature and humidity ratios can be influenced by
external and internal leakage. Thus the test shall not
be carried out if the maximum of the external and
internal leakage rates, as described in the 5.2 and 5.3,
exceed 3 % of the nominal air flow rate
For recovery devices of category III, in the case of
rotating regenerator, the purge sector shall be adjusted
in accordance with the recommendations of the
manufacturer Where the carry-over exceeds 3 % of the
supply-air flow rate during the carry-over test, the
efficiency tests shall be performed with the higher
pressure difference (see 5.4), which gives a
carryover of 3 %
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EN 308:1997
NOTE 2. Carry-over results in apparent increased efficiency and
should therefore be kept at a low level. Keeping the carry-over to
a low level by the higher pressure difference decreases
the efficiency. Thus, small purge sector will in this test decrease
the efficiency.
Recovery devices belonging to category IIa shall be
tested as complete units including the pump and pipe
system However, the two coils can be tested using the
liquid side data given by the manufacturer. In which
case, the interconnecting pipes shall be well insulated
and as short as possible. The type and concentration of
anti-freeze mixture shall be in accordance with the
manufacturer’s recommendations.
NOTE 3. Short and well insulated interconnecting pipes will result
in an enhanced efficiency where the coils are close to each other.
It is also worth noting that anti-freeze added to water decreases
the efficiency.
For recovery devices belonging to category III in the
case of rotating regenerator, the nominal rotor speed
specified by the manufacturer shall be used.
Performance ratios shall be determined for each of the
following combinations of supply and exhaust air flow
Both temperature and humidity ratios shall be
determined at the following inlet air conditions:
In heating applications additional tests shall be carried
out for devices of categories I and II to determine the
ratios when condensation occurs. The following inlet
air conditions shall be used.
NOTE 4. These input criteria are given for standard tests to verify
performance data given by the manufacturer. However, the test
method can be used to obtain rating data for a recovery device
over the whole of its input range.
Following a test for cold climates, which should last at
least 6 h, the unit should be visually inspected. This
inspection should be carried out immediately after
defrosting or other similar action. Observations shall
be noted in the test report as to the influence of
freezing and condensation on the operation of the heat
recovery unit, and the condensation water outlet
5.6 Pressure drop
The pressure drop on the supply air side and exhaust
sir side shall be determined in accordance with 6.5 for
at least five different air flow rates on both sides of the
recovery device in the range of 50 % to
150 % of the nominal air flow rate with the test
points well spaced over the whole flow range.
The test shall not performed if the internal or external
leakage flow rates exceed 3 % of the nominal air flow
The tests shall be performed with equal supply and
exhaust air flow rates and at a static pressure
difference below ± 500 Pa The nominal rotor
speed (category III for the rotating regenerator)
indicated by the manufacturer shall be used and the
purge sector shall be adjusted according to the
recommendations of the manufacturer Air density shall
be between Outside this
range, the results shall be corrected to standard air
conditions.
For recovery devices of category II, which have no
common wall between the supply and exhaust air
sides, the pressure drop can be determined for each
side of the exchanger without any air flow on the
other side.