Multi-objective design of single room ventilation units with heat and water recovery

The present paper describes the design improvement of a single-room ventilation unit. This ventilation system presents many advantages, however, several drawbacks exist. The first one is the acoustic disturbance. As the facilities are directly installed within the rooms, the fans’ noise may create discomfort. Furthermore, in the cold or temperate climates, condensation or frost may appear. A dedicated management should then be implemented. Finally, as the system is not centralized, communication between the different units is required to ensure the global system efficiency. A team of several industrial partners and research institutes tackles the above-mentioned issues in the frame of the “Silenthalpic” project. The project is split in three major tasks. To correctly reduce the sound emission level (i), a spectral analysis of the noise emitted by an existing unit was undertaken, revealing that frequencies under 1 kHz are mainly responsible for the noise disturbance. From this analysis, active and passive solutions for noise reduction are envisaged, showing encouraging trends. The next research aspect is the exchanger of the ventilation unit (ii). The constituting material is a new porous membrane allowing the humidity transfer (vapor or liquid). This specific exchanger is numerically modelled to predict its performances. The last considered problematic is the optimization of the ventilation and control strategies for the specific case of decentralized units (iii), taking advantage of sensors and recent communication technologies like IOT (Internet Of Things) to establish communication between decentralized units and ensure their consistent control. The association of the three aspects presented here should then lead to versatile and efficient ventilation systems.