PROJECT REPORT

ON
DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF
EARTH AIR HEAT EXCHANGER
SUBMITED BY
MD ABDUL MUKTADAR ALI (2451-18-736-076)
PERISETTI NAGA AMARSAI (2451-18-736-083)
METTU ROHITH REDDY (2451-18-736-084)
JANGAM VEERA SAI VAMSHEE (2451-18-736-086)
B.E. 4TH YEAR, MECHANICAL-2
PROJECT GUIED:
MR. V. SUMANRAJU
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

SUBMITTED TO
DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
MVSR COLLEGE OF ENGINEEERING, HYDERABAD
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 CONTENTS

S.NO TOPICS PAGE.NO

1 Abstract 3

2 Introduction 4

3 Literature survey 5-8

4 Methodology 8

5 Fabrication and cost estimate 8

6 Design calculation 10-13

7 Results and discussion 14

8 References 15

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 ABSTRACT

Now a day we all are aware of the increasing price of

electricity. So, everyone is moving towards sustainable
living. In this case, Earth Tube Heat Exchanger is the
best choice for the HVAC facility. In residential
buildings more than 40% of the electricity required for
heating and cooling purpose. To reduce the burden on
the active system we have moved towards a renewable
source of energy. Earth Tube Heat Exchanger works the
basic principles of a heat transfer and uses geothermal
energy as a source of energy. This project presents the
results of theoretical calculations. NTU method is used
to calculate the temperature drop at the outlet of the
tube.
Experimental setup consists of a 4m aluminium tube of
diameter 0.08m buried at a depth of 1m in box filled
with sand.

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 INTRODUCTION

It is found It is found that the soil at some depth from earth

surface has a property to remain cold during summer and
relatively hotter during winter days from the atmospheric
temperature. Due to limited sources of energy, it is very
essential to find out another alternative sources of energy to
save the conventional fuels available in nature to save energy
of universe. The energy consumption of buildings for heating
and cooling purpose has significantly increased during the
decades. Energy saving is the major concern everywhere,
particularly challenge in desert climates. The comfort
conditions for human being are temperature between 200 to
260 and relative humidity in between 40% to 60% . This can
be achieved by conditioning air. The system used in now a
days, air is passed through a buried pipe by fan. In summer
the supply air to the building is cooled due to the fact that the
ground temperature around the heat exchanger is lower than
the ambient temperature. During winter, when the ambient
temperature is lower than the ground temperature the process
is reversed and the air gets preheated.

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 LITERATURE SURVEY
A simplified analytical model to study year around effectiveness of an
EAHE coupled greenhouse located in New Delhi, India. They found
the temperature of greenhouse air on average 6- 7 °C more in winter
and 3-4 °C less in summer than the same greenhouse when operating
without EAHE. A developed thermal model for heating of greenhouse
by using different combinations of inner thermal curtain, an earth air
heat exchanger, and geothermal heating. the performance analysis of
EAHE for summer cooling in Jaipur, India. They discussed 23.42 m
long EAHE at cooling mode in the range of 8.0-12.7 °C and 2-5 m/s
flow rate for steel and PVC pipes. They showed performance of
system is not significantly affected by the material of buried pipe
instead it is greatly affected by the velocity of air fluid. They observed
COP variation 1.9- 2.9 for increasing the velocity 2-5 m/s.
Kabashnikov et al. [36] presented an effective mathematical model for
calculating the temperature of the ground and air in a ground heat
exchanger for ventilation systems. The model was based on the
representation of temperature in the form of the Fourier integral.
Parametric study was performed to analyse performance behaviour of
EAHE by taking into account the air flow rate, variation in length,
diameter of tubes, depth of burial, and spacing between tubes. The
results of calculations agreed with the experimental data. The
developed model was simple and easy to calculate and can be referred
for design considerations.
O.P Jakhar and Rajendra Kukana (2014) investigate the transient
thermal analysis of earth air tunnel heat exchanger using CFD and
experimental setup for Summer Season. The analysis of majorly
available soil in the Bikaner region, have been considered are Sandy

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Loam Soil and Sandy Soil. The cooling effect of 13.85 and 9.22°C is
obtained for the Sandy Loam Soil at inlet air velocity 9 m/sec for the
temperature 47.6 and 39.3°C, respectively, as difference of the inlet
temperature (higher) and the outlet temperature (lower). For the
Sandy soil this difference of the inlet to outlet temperature of EATHE
is 17.85 and 10.42°C for the temperature 47.6 and 39. 3°C.The
cooling effect is more for the Sandy soil as compared to the sandy
Loam Soil. Hence Cooling is affected by the properties of soil
considered.

Thakur, A. Sharma et.al [2015] has expressed that the finned mild
steel pipe of 1.2m and diameter 0.0889m inside the earth
produced a temperature fall till 3°C for various daily
temperatures. For higher inlet temperature and the outlet
temperature difference recorded is mostly from 2- 3°C. The COP
of the heat exchanger ranges from 0.928 – 2.785 for temperature
difference of 1°C - 3°C respectively. Higher COP can be obtained
when temperature difference is greater and this can be achieved
by using longer pipe for more heat transfer. With a pipe of 1.2m
the decrease in temperature is recorded mostly by 1-3°C. For a
longer pipe length at this depth 5 ft the temperature of air will
decrease significantly since the air will have longer time to flow
through the pipe where convective heat transfer will occur for
longer time in the tunnel which will produce greater temperature
difference and larger COP.

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Ghosal et al. [25] developed a complete numerical model to predict
and compare thermal performance of two buried pipe systems, that is,
ground air collector and EAHE, integrated with the greenhouse
located in the premises of Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India,
for choosing a suitable heating method in the composite climate of
India. It was concluded that the temperatures of greenhouse air with
ground air collector were observed to be 2-3°C higher than those with
EAHE and the temperature fluctuations of greenhouse air were also
less when operated with ground air collector as compared to EAHE.
A fair agreement was observed between predicted and computed
values of greenhouse air temperatures in both systems. Finally ground
air collector was chosen as a suitable option for heating of greenhouse
in the composite climate of India.
Rohit Misra, Vikas Bansal, Ghanshyam Das Agrawal et al. [2013] has
expressed that with increase in length of pipe, the outlet air
temperature from EAHE decreases. The decrease in air temperature
was sharp for the first 10 meters length of pipe and it became
moderate afterwards. So, increasing the length of pipe more than 20‐
30m did not cause any significant rise in performance and
improvements began to stabilize, indicated these values could be
optimal design values for hot and dry climatic conditions of Bhopal. It
was observed that with increase in pipe diameter, the outlet air
temperature of EAHE increases because the convective heat transfer
coefficient at inner surface of pipe as well as overall heat transfer
coefficient at earth‐ pipe interface decreases at higher pipe diameters.
With increase in depth of pipe burial, outlet air temperature of EAHE
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system decreases. So, pipes of EAHE system should be installed as
deeply as possible but it increases excavation cost. So, it is advised to
keep depth of pipe burial about 2m in order to limit the
initial/installation cost of EAHE system.

N.K. Bansal, M.S.Sodha [2012] has expressed that EATHE can be

used as substitute for the conventional air conditioning systems
EATHE-evaporating cooling hybrid systems can be used in summer
for better results. More the thermal conductivity of soil better is the
thermal performance of EAHE With increasing pipe length,
decreasing pipe diameter, decreasing mass flow rate of flowing air
inside buried pipe and increasing depth of ground up to 4 m
performance of EAHE becomes better.
According to Kim S K, Bae G O, Lee K [2010] if the length
of the pipe is so small and the blower is high voltage then the
system is useless because the temperature difference between
inlet and out let is very Less The material of pipe is not
affected in the output result. If cooling or heating rate is more
achieve, then the length of pipe kept at least 100 m and
blower some around 400 W

METHODOLOGY
The experimental setup is considered as an open loop flow
system to conduct theoretical investigation on the temperature
difference for inlet and Outlet section, heat transfer for a
velocity of 2m/s of air in pipe in parallel connection. The
experimental data are to be used to find the increase of
cooling rate for the summer condition. The experimental setup

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consists of a aluminium tube of length 4m and diameter of
0.08m buried at a depth of 1m in box filled with sand. The
outlet temperature of the tube is calculated for the given
inputs using NTU (number of transfer units) method.

FABRICATION
 The wooden box of length=1m, breadth=1m, and
depth=1m is taken.
 The aluminium tube of length 4m and diameter 0.08m is
placed in it and it is filled completely with sand.
 The inlet of the tube is attached to a blower of 33w
power so that the air flows across the tube.
 The outlet of the tube is attached to a small room space
where the temperature drop is measured.
 The temperature inside the tube and the temperature of
the sand are measured using a probe thermometer.
 The velocity of the air at inlet and outlet is measured
using anemometer.

COST ESTIMATE
MATERIAL COST

ALUMINUM 4000/-

BLOWER(EXHUST FAN) 800/-

THERMOMETER 400/-

WOODEN BOX 1500/-

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 ADDITIONAL COST 1000/-

TOTAL COST 8000/-(approximately)

DESIGN CALCULATIONS
ASSUMPTIONS:
 The surface temperature of is equal to the ambient air
temperature, which equals the inlet air temperature.
 Earth undisturbed temperature approximated equal to
annual average temperature of the location.
 The thickness of the tube is very small so thermal
resistance is negligible
 The temperature of the pipe is uniform in axial direction
which equals to the ETU.
List of formulas we consider while calculating the length of
earth tube heat exchanger, and temperature difference of inlet
and outlet for different velocities of air for same length of
pipe.
 Mass flow rate (m)

 Reynolds number (Re)

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 Prandtl number (Pr)

 Nusselt number (Nu)

If 2300 ≤ R e < 106
 Convective heat transfer coefficient (h)

 Overall heat transfer coefficient (Ut)

 Effectiveness (ε)

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  NTU

 Amount of heat transfer (Q)

TABLE 1- INPUT PARAMETERS

S.NO INPUT SYMBOLS VALUE UNIT
PARAMETERS
1. Inlet temperature Tin 40 °C
2. Pipe wall Twall 26 °C
temperature
3. Thermal Kair 0.0275 W/mK
conductivity of air
4. Thermal Kpipe 205 W/mK
conductivity of
pipe(aluminium)

5. Thermal capacity Cp 1005 J/KgK

6. Viscosity µ 1.7x10^-5 m^2/s
7. Density of air  ρ  1.128 Kg/m^3
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 8. Velocity of air Vair+ 1.5 m/s
9. Outer diameter of Do 0.11 m
pipe
10. Inner diameter of Din 0.10 m
pipe
11. Thickness of pipe t 0.01 m

TEMPERATURE DROP WHEN THE LENGTH OF TUBE IS

4m
 ALUMINIUM AS TUBE MATERIAL (1.5m/s)

1. Mass flow rate (m) = 0.0132 kg/sec

2. Reynolds number (Re) = 9952.94

3. Prandtl number (Pr) = 0.6213

4. Nusselt number (Nu) = 28

5. Convective heat transfer coefficient (h) = 7W/m^2K

6. Overall heat transfer (Ut) = 7

7. Effectiveness (ε) = 0.485

8. NTU = 0.6631

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9. Length = 4m

10.Temperature drop = 6.91°C (approx.7°C)

11.Amount of heat transfer (Q)= 92.8w
The temperature drop of 7°C is achieved when the length of
the aluminium tube is 4m. And the velocity of the air is
1.5m/s.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSONS

 4m length of pipe is considered to calculate the

temperature drop of ETHE. Taking aluminium as tube
material.
 Theoretical calculations were carried out for air velocity
of 1.5m/s.
 It has been observed that for 4m length and 1.5m/s air
velocity the temperature drop is approximately 7°C.
 It has been observed that for small length of the tube the
velocity of the air should be less so that there will be
maximum heat exchange.
 With the increase in length of the tube and depth(2m)
we can achieve maximum temperature drop.
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 It is been observed that tube material plays important
role in earth air heat exchanger. As the thermal
conductivity increases more effective is the earth air
heat exchanger.

REFERENCES
[1] Bisoniya TS, Kumar A, Baredar P (2013) Experimental
and analytical studies of earth–air heat exchanger (EAHE)
systems in India: a review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 19:238–
246
[2] DheerajSardana et al, Effects of parameters on
performance of earth air heat exchanger system (EAHE): a
review, [IJATES], [ISSN 2348-7550, Vol. 3special issue no. 02,
February 2015]
[3] Kumar, R., S. Rajesh, and S.C. Kaushik, Performance
evaluation and energy conservation potential of earth-air-tunnel
system coupled with non-air-conditioned building. Building and
Environment, 2003.
[4] N.K. Bansal et al, Evaluation of an earth–air tunnel system
for cooling/heating of a hospital complex, Building and
Environment [IJATES][VOL NO 06 MAR 2013]
[5] P.K. Nag, Heat & Mass Transfer, McGraw Hill Education
Private Limited [ Edition 2014]
[6] Heat and mass transfer data book, New Age International
publishers [ninth edition 2018]

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[7] O.P Jakhar and Rajendra Kukana CFD Thermal Analysis
of Earth Air Heat Exchanger for Hot & Dry Climate [august
19,2019] ISBN-10 : 6139951828
[8] Vikas Bansal, Rohit Misra, Ghanshyam Das Agarwal
Transient effect of soil thermal conductivity and duration of
operation on performance of Earth Air Tunnel Heat Exchanger
2013, vol. 103
[9] Arpit Thakur, Aashish Sharma CFD Analysis of Earth-Air
Heat Exchanger to Evaluate the Effect of Parameters on Its
Performance Engineering (IOSR-JMCE) (2015)
[10] Ghosal, M K; Tiwari, G N; Srivastava, N S L, Thermal
modelling of a greenhouse with an integrated earth to air heat
exchanger: an experimental validation (2004)

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