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The efficient management of thermal energy gained in a low energy building

Article · October 2015

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Mihail-Bogdan Carutasiu Constantin Ionescu

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 The efficient management of thermal energy gained in a low energy building
Mihail – Bogdan CĂRUȚAȘIU, Constantin IONESCU, Horia NECULA, Adrian BADEA

Abstract
The importance of reducing energy consumption in building sector is highlighted in world
countries energetic strategies. This paper analyzes an efficient way to reduce the building’s energy
consumption for heating by coupling the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning)
system with two subsystems used for preheating the fresh air. The first subsystem is an earth-to-
air heat exchanger (EAHX), and it serves as transfer medium between the sucked fresh air and soil.
Moreover, the preheated air is inserted in an air-to-air heat exchanger (MVHR), coupled directly
to the mechanical ventilation system, which facilitates the heat transfer between the exhaust and
fresh air. Using this HVAC system, a total thermic energy gain of 1038 kWh was obtained for the
considered test period, which lasted from 17 of January to 13 May (when the heating system was
turned off). Choosing this time interval, we could analyze the heating period (from 17 January to
15 April), but also the inter season period, characterized by high outside temperature variations and
thermal instability provided by the EAHX subsystem.
Key words: low energy building, management of gained thermic energy, preheating subsystems,
monitoring system.

1. Introduction

The current concerns of world countries regarding reducing energy production, consumption
and implicitly green-house gases emissions led the way to new and more energy efficient buildings.
Across the European Union (EU), the energy consumption in buildings sector increased in the last
decade, reaching 40% in 2011 [1,2]. Moreover, the built environment is constantly increasing,
being estimated that by 2050 the number of buildings will increase by 25% compared with the
actual values [3]. This urges the implementation of energy efficiency measures applied to this
sector, which has the highest technical potential for reducing the energy consumption (estimated
at 30% [4]) compared to others energy sectors in EU.
In this respect, by introducing the Directive on Energy Performances of Buildings Directive
(2010), the EU acknowledges the necessity of implementing nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB)
as a future building standard [5], which must be adopted by all state members. By implementing
this concept as a future cornerstone for new and retrofit buildings, starting 2016, it is expected to
reduce by 2020 the overall energy production by 11% across EU compared with actual values [6].
In Romania, the final energy consumption in the building stock is higher than the average
across the EU territory, stated at 44% and it is followed by the industry (30%) and transport sectors
(26%) [7]. The average specific energy consumption for a building is 375 kWh/m 2/year, from
which, 55% is used for heating the space, and just 26% for appliances and cooking activities [8].
The Romanian Energetic Strategy estimated an energy efficiency potential between 35 – 50 % for
the residential buildings and between 13 – 19% for the tertiary sector [9].
In order to achieve this high energy efficiency values, it is important to establish new
constructive and operational ways for new and retrofit buildings. For this, the Passive House
Institute (PHI) from Darmstadt – Germany developed a new energy-efficient standard, which
succeeds to maintain an optimum interior comfort level with minimum specific energy
consumption, without using any active cooling or heating systems [10]. The passive house
standards stipulates that the yearly energy requirement for heating and cooling should not exceed
15 kWh/m2, while the overall energy consumption should be under 120 kWh/m2, regardless the
energy source [11,12].
This can be achieved through a very good envelope insulation (U-values under 0.15 W/m2/K
for the opaque elements and under 0.8 W/m2/K for the windows), with minimal thermal bridges
and air infiltration (less than 0.6 air changes per hour at a pressure of 50 Pa), compact shape,
optimal usage of external and internal heat gains, and a high efficient MVHR system [13,14]. This
standard usually is combined with different subsystems based on renewable energy sources
(geothermal heat pumps, EAHX, pallet stove, etc.) in order to reduce the energy demand for heating
[12]. These subsystems provide a supplemental thermic energy, used for pre-treating the fresh inlet
air, reducing this way the total energy consumption for heating and cooling.

2. The case study low energy building

Applying the standards mentioned above, a duplex of low energy buildings was built in the
University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest campus, composed of two identical houses, with a total
useful area of 140 m2 each. The room distribution is identical, and each house is composed of a
living room, an open kitchen, a bathroom and a technical room at the first floor and two bedrooms,
two bathrooms and an office at the second floor. The duplex has a very good thermal insulation,
and the envelope has an average U-value of 0.124 W/m2/K, while the low-E triple glazed windows
have an overall heat transfer coefficient of 0.6 W/m2/K, and a total solar absorbance coefficient (G-
value) of 50% [15]. The buildings are very airtight (0.5 air changes per hour, measured at a pressure
of 50 Pa), involving the necessity of implementing a mechanical ventilation system, composed of
insulated interior pipes and two fans incorporated in the MVHR unit. The two houses are south
oriented in order to maximize the heat gain provided by the solar radiation in heating period, and
are named West and East House, depending on the position of the uncommon wall.
For heating and cooling the insider air, the houses uses different HVAC systems. While the
West House is equipped with a heat pump, a boiler and a heat exchange unit coupled directly with
the mechanical ventilation system, the East House uses an EAHX system and a MVHR unit,
detailed in section 2.1. This paper focuses on the east house, also termed “Laboratory House”,
because it serves for research purposes, and it is equipped with a monitoring system described in
the section 2.2

2.1. The HVAC system

The case study house is equipped with an HVAC system composed of two heat exchangers
as presented in Figure 2.1. The first one, EAHX ensures the heat exchange between the earth and
fresh air. It is used to pretreat the ventilation air and it is composed of a system of horizontal
distributed pipes, placed at 2.5 m deep in the ground on the east side of the house, with a total
length of 38 m. The pipes are made of polypropylene, with a thermal conductivity of 0.28 W/m/K,
and have an outer diameter of 0.2 m. There are silver particles integrated within the inner lining of
the pipes, preventing the emergence of any type of bacteria, and purifying the ventilation air.
Studies conducted so far regarding the benefits of integrating the EAHX within the HVAC system
of a low energy building, showed that it reduces the thermal load up 17% and the peak thermal
demand with 20% [16,17].

Figure 2.1. The HVAC system and wired sensors positioning [18]

The second subsystem, the MVHR unit, represents the heat transfer medium between fresh
and vitiated air and it’s coupled with the ventilation system which ensures the air circulation inside
the building by introducing the fresh air in room where the daily activities are carried out (living
room and bedrooms) and taking out the vitiated air (characterized by high moisture and CO2
concentrations) from bathrooms and kitchen. In order to avoid the emergence of zones with
different pressure, the common doors have adjustable openings to facilitate the air movement. .
The heat recovery unit is characterized by a high recovery rate (up to 93%) and adjustable air-flow
rate (between 60 and 200 m3/h).
For peak periods, when the system descried above does not provide the optimal interior
temperature, a 2.4 kW electric resistance is used in order to increase the fresh air’s temperature up
to the desired values.
The current study refers to the total energy reduction for heating achieved by implementing
this HVAC system.
2.2. The monitoring system
In order to study the behavior of the low-energy building, we implemented a data acquisition
system, composed of sensors, acquisition and storage systems. The sensors measure the following
parameters: temperatures, air flow, interior air quality (CO2 concentration, relative humidity and
luminosity), solar radiation, energy production and consumption.
The temperature variations throughout the HVAC system is described by eight Pt100 sensors
mounted throughout the fresh and vitiated air paths and shown in Figure 2.1 (T1 – T8). The T1
sensor is placed on the north façade, in a shaded area, protected from solar radiation in order to
minimize the measurements errors, and provides information about the exterior temperature. The
ground and the EAHX outlet air temperatures are provided by Tground (placed at 2.5 m deep) and
T2 sensors, while the fresh air temperature at the MVHR’s outlet is provided by sensor T3. After
the electric resistance, we mounted the T4 sensor, in order to analyze the heat gain after the electric
element, while sensor T5 provides information about the fresh air inlet in the living room. The
vitiated air path temperature variation is provided by T6 (inlet) and T7 (outlet) sensors. T8
measures the interior temperature the living room (north zone), considered the interior comfort
temperature. The flow rates of the two airflows are measured with two flow meters mounted on the
inlet and outlet pipes of the MVHR unit.
The acquisition system, placed in the technical room, harvests the information provided by
the sensors, each ten minutes, and communicates through serial connection with the data-base,
where the information is stored and can be accessed by remote control through internet connection.
This paper analyses the data provided by the HVAC system sensors, T1, Tground, T2, T3, and
air flow values, which are used to observe the heating energy gained by implementing the system
and we computed them as hourly and daily averages.

3. Results
The monitoring period started on 17 February 2015 and ended on 13 May 2015, when the
heating period was over, and the MVHR unit was bypassed. This way, the paper analyses two
cases: heating and inter season periods.
In order to analyze the thermal energy provided by the two heat exchangers, we computed
them as:
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 = 𝑉𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 ∙ 𝜌𝑎𝑖𝑟 ∙ 𝛥ℎ𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 (3.1.)
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 = 𝑉𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 ∙ 𝜌𝑎𝑖𝑟 ∙ 𝛥ℎ𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 (3.2.)
Where,
𝛥ℎ𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 = 𝑐𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟(𝑡2) ∙ 𝑡2 − 𝑐𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟(𝑡 ) ∙ 𝑡1 (3.3.)
1

𝛥ℎ𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 = 𝑐𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟(𝑡3) ∙ 𝑡3 − 𝑐𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟(𝑡 ) ∙ 𝑡2 (3.4.)

2

 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 – thermal power provided by the EAHX system [𝑊]

 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 – thermal power provided by the MVHR unit [𝑊]
𝑚3
 𝑉𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 – fresh air flow through EAHX system [ ]
𝑠
𝑚3
 𝑉𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 – fresh air flow through MVHR unit [ ]
𝑠
𝐽
 ℎ – air enthalpy [ ]
𝐾𝑔
𝑘𝑔
 𝜌𝑎𝑖𝑟 – air density [𝑚3 ]
𝐽
 𝑐𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑟 – air specific heat [𝑘𝑔 𝐾]
 𝑡1 – exterior temperature [° C]
 𝑡2 – EAHX outlet temperature / MVHR inlet temperature [°C]
 𝑡3 – MVHR outlet temperature [°C]
 In order to compute the air density on each heat exchanger, we considered the average
temperature on the respective air flow, while the specific heat of was computed for each of the
temperatures used.
In February, the considered temperatures variations are shown in Figure 3.1. As observed,
the exterior temperature varied from -5.24°C to 14°C, while the ground temperature was
approximatively constant, at around 7.7 °C. The EAHX outlet temperature (also serving as MVHR
inlet temperature) has only positive values, indicating a very high EAHX system efficiency. After
the heat transfer inside the heat recovery unit, the fresh air temperature increased at values between
16 and 22°C.
Using this values, we computed the thermic energy gained by the above described heating
system, integrating the resulted instantaneous power (𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝐸𝐴𝐻𝑋 , 𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑀𝑉𝐻𝑅 ) over the
considered period. Through the EAHX, depending on exterior temperature, the heat transfer path
shifts between the two media (ground and air). In periods when the outside temperature records
values above the ground temperature, the heat transfer path is from the air to the ground, resulting
a decrease in the fresh air temperatures. This phenomena occurs frequently in the transition periods
(spring and autumn), causing a decrease in the EAHX system’s efficiency, but is benefic during
the warm season, when it provides the cooling energy required to maintain the optimal temperature
inside the building. This inverse thermal energy (transmitted from air to ground) is an important
factor, along with the solar radiation, in the soil’s heat regeneration phenomena during the heating
periods.

Figure 3.1. Temperature variation through the HVAC system in February

The total thermal heat gain provided by the EAHX in the considered period of February was
27.87 kWh with a maximum of 0.474 kWh when the exterior temperature registered a mean value
of -5.24°C. By implementing the MVHR, the thermic energy gained was 185 kWh, meaning a total
of 213.5 kWh provided by the two subsystem in the considered period of February.

Figure 3.2. EAHX and MVHR heating energy gain in February

The outside temperature in March and April varied from -0.9°C to 26°C (as shown in Figure
3.3), while the ground temperature registered a slight increase compared with the values from
February. The temperature at the EAHX outlet has the same variations as the exterior temperature,
but the amplitude is decreased due to the ground temperature. After the MVHR unit, the fresh air
temperature ranged from 15 to 27°C, indicating that, for high outlet temperatures, the usage of an
extra heating system is not necessary needed.
Due to high exterior temperature variations, the EAHX thermal power has negative values in
37% of the time, resulting a total useful heat gain of 32 kWh, even if the observed period was 61
days. The MVHR heat gain ranged from 0.28 kWh to 0.79 kWh, with a total gained thermic energy
of 696 kWh, resulting a total of 728 kWh provided by the two subsystems (Figure 3.4.).
 Figure 3.3. Temperature variation through the HVAC system in March and April

Figure 3.4. EAHX and MVHR heating energy gain in March and April

In May, the outside temperature (which varied from 11.2 to 29.3°C) had always superior
values compared with the ground temperature (values between 10.9 to 12.2C), and the fresh air
only transfer heat (cools) inside the EAHX (Figure 3.5). As observed, the MVHR outlet
temperature is not always above the exterior temperature, meaning that, there is no need for heating,
in those periods. Moreover, the building needs cooling in order to maintain the comfort interior
temperature.

Figure 3.5. Temperature variation through the HVAC system in May

Mainly due to the exterior temperature variations, the thermal power provided by the EAHX
system is in 76% of the time negative, meaning that the main heat transfer path is from the air to
the ground (Figure 3.6.). This results in low useful thermic energy provided by the EAHX unit (just
2.65 kWh), while energy gained by the MHVR unit was 121.3 kWh. This emphasizes the need of
changing the interior conditioning regime, from heating to cooling.
The EAHX efficiency is proportional with the temperature difference between the ground
and exterior temperature. In period when the two temperatures have similar values, or the ground
temperature is lower than the outside one, the thermal power provided by this subsystem is
minimal, or even negative, resulting in a decreased useful energy. This is useful in cooling periods,
when the useful energy gained is considered to be the thermic energy “lost” by the air in the ground.
The implemented subsystems provide a significant percentage of the total energy used for
heating the house. Basically, in the monitored period the EAHX system provided 7% of the total
energy used, while the MVHR system has contributed with up to 44%. The extra heating energy
was provided by the electric resistance (49%), meaning that, more than 50% of the energy use for
heating was gained by implementing the two subsystems. In Figure 3.7 it can be observed that the
energy provided by the HVAC system is invers proportional with the exterior temperature, while
the electric resistance was used turned off on 16 May, when, due to the high thermal inertia of the
building, the interior comfort temperature was provided only by the HVAC system (EAHX and
MVHR unit).
 Figure 3.6. EAHX and MVHR thermic power in March and April

Figure 3.7. Percentage of energy usage distribution in the monitored period.

 4. Conclusions and discussions
The need of using efficient additional heating and cooling systems based on renewable energy
sources is stipulated in EU Directive regarding Energy Performances of Buildings. The
minimization of energy requirements for heating and cooling can be achieved by a combination
between a compact and very well insulated envelope and the usage of preheating or precooling
system. The case study low energy building is equipped with an earth-to-air heat exchanger (used
as a damping temperature medium for the fresh air) and a mechanical ventilation with heat recovery
system. The benefits of using such a system for cooling or heating the building are quantified in
the heat gain (or loss) provided by the two components.
For this, we analyzed a period between February and May 2015, and studied the behavior of
the EAHX and MVHR systems in both cooling and transition seasons.
In the heating period (February, March and April), the usage of EAHX and MVHR systems
is highlighted by the total heat power gain by the system (62.5 kWh – EAHX and 975.5 kWh –
MVHR), but in the inter season period, the heat transfer path is inverse, and the fresh air tends to
cool in the ground. This is benefic in cooling period, when the temperature provided by the EAHX
system is optimal to obtain the interior comfort. In this case, the MVHR unit is bypassed and turned
off, and no heat transfer takes place between the vitiated and fresh air.
During the presented period (17 February – 13 May), up to 51% of the energy used for heating
was provided by the implemented HVAC system components. The EAHX contributed with 7%
useful thermic energy, while the main heat gain was provided by the MVHR unit (44%). The rest
of the energy needed to achieve the thermal comfort was provided by the electric resistance, which
was turned off on 16 April.
Using the system described above, the total energy used for heating was of 14.88
kWh/m2/year, meaning an estimated reduction of about 90% when compared with a standard house
build in Romania [18].
 References

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