CLEAN-AIR Heat Pump - reduced energy consumption for ventilation in buildings by integrating air cleaning and heat pump

This report summarizes task 1 of the Clean Air Heat Pump project – modelling and simulation on energy savings when using the clean air heat pump for ventilation, air cleaning and energy recovery. The total energy consumption of the proposed ventilation systems using clean air heat pump technology was calculated by a theoretical model and compared with the reference ventilation systems (conventional ventilation systems). The energy compared between the two systems includes energy used for heating, cooling and fan. The simulation and energy saving calculation was made for the application of the clean air heat pump in three typical climate conditions, i.e. mild-cold, mild-hot and hot & wet climates. Real climate data recorded from three cities in 2002 was used for the calculation. The three cities were Copenhagen (Denmark), Milan (Italy) and Colombo (Sir Lanka) which represent the above three typical climate zones. For the Danish climate (the mild cold climate), the calculations show that the ventilation system using clean air heat pump technology can save up to 42% of energy cost in winter compared to the conventional ventilation system. The energy saving in summer can be as high as 66% for the ventilation system with humidity control and 9% for the ventilation system without the requirement of humidity control. Since the Danish summer climate is very mild, over 80% of the yearly energy consumption for ventilation is used during winter season. It is, therefore, estimated that more than 35% annual energy saving for ventilation is expected in Denmark using the clean air heat pump ventilation technology.

For the mild hot climate, e.g. the Italian climate, the calculations show that up to 63% of the energy saving can be achieved in summer season. For the winter mode, 17% reduction of the energy cost can be expected for the domestic use. For industrial use, the energy cost of the clean air heat pump may not be favourable due to the industrial price of gas in Italy is much lower than the domestic price.

For the extremely hot and humid climate, the clean air heat pump has the maximum ability of the energy saving for ventilation. The calculations showed that annual energy saving of using the clean air heat pump for ventilation in Sri Lanka is 62%.

In general, the clean air heat pump system is suitable for ventilation in all kind of climates around the world except for the hot and dry climate. The annual energy saving is expected in the range between 30% and 60% depending on the climate. It is worth noting that the calculated energy reduction of a ventilation system using the clean air heat pump technology was an extra saving compared to a ventilation system that equipped with the high efficiency counter flow heat recovery equipment with a temperature efficiency of 80%. Based on this simulation, it can be concluded that the energy saving of the clean air heat pump for ventilation is remarkable. Therefore, the technology is highly recommended provided that this simulation results are further validated by experiments.