Abstract :
[en] According to the European directive 2012/27/EU of October 2012 on energy efficiency, buildings represented 40 % of the EU’s final energy consumption in 2011. The major part of this energy consumption is due to the residential sector for space heating and domestic hot water production. Moreover, buildings are crucial to achieve the EU objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95 % by 2050 compared to 1990.
In order to reduce these greenhouse gas emissions, retrofit measures regarding insulation and air-tightness have to be taken. However, such improvements of the building envelope lead to a relative increase in consumption related to ventilation. Indeed, according to Orme (2001), Roulet et al. (2001) and Fouih et al. (2012), the heating demand due to ventilation can reach more than 50 % of the total building heating demand for new and retrofitted buildings.
To reduce the energy consumption due to ventilation, exhaust air heat pumps (EAHPs) can be used instead of the traditional heat recovery with an air-to-air heat exchanger. EAHPs recover heat from the exhaust air of the ventilation system to produce domestic hot water and space heating. According to Fehrm et al. (2002), this technology is already widely used in the northern countries such as Germany and Sweden. In fact, according to Fracastoro et al. (2010), efficiencies of EAHPs are higher than those obtained with outside air or geothermal heat pumps in certain conditions, whatever the climate location. Berg et al. (2010) have monitored three houses in Sweden equiped with exhaust air heat pumps. The seasonal performance factor (SPF) values were all within the range 1.4-1.7. This factor takes into account the energy consumption of the heat pumps and the auxiliary heating systems. A 17 kW exhaust air heat pump has also been tested by Mikola et al. (2014). The measured SPF for the heat pump only (without taking into account the auxiliary heating system) was about 2.9-3.4 in winter and 3 in the summer.
Exhaust air heat pumps coupled with simple exhaust mechanical ventilation systems have many advantages compared to traditional balanced systems with heat recovery:
• Only one fan is necessary and the duct system is simpler. Consequently, EAHPs are suitable for retrofitted buildings.
• The heat pump can provide the whole part of the heating demand related to domestic hot water and 50 % of the heating demand related to space heating, according to Fracastoro et al. (2010).
• The heat pump can also provide active cooling by inversing the refrigerating cycle.
• The heat pump performance is high and remains constant with outdoor temperature changes since the temperature of the heat sink is constant (20°C). As a result, the system is cost-effective.
• The system is compact, quiet and requires little maintenance.
In the present paper, the energetic performances of an exhaust air heat pump are assessed through numerical and experimental studies. The thermal capacity of the machine is 1.5 kW when the inside air temperature is 20°C and the outside water temperature is 35°C. The heat pump is therefore ideally suited for new or retrofitted buildings. The system including a mechanical exhaust ventilation system and an exhaust air heat pump is first presented. Secondly, the heat pump model used afterwards to determine the heat pump seasonal performance factor is described. Thirdly, the model is calibrated to fit the measurement data. Finally, the heat pump model is coupled to a building model to determine the annual performance of the system. The system is compared to a traditional balanced ventilation system with heat recovery in terms of primary energy consumption, for different heating and DHW production systems (electric heater, heat pump, gas condensing boiler).
