Development of a compact single room ventilation unit with heat recovery dedicated to tertiary buildings

In the frame of the European project called Bricker, a new prototype of single room ventilation with heat
recovery has been developed. This new unit is supposed to be installed in class rooms of an educational
institution. This paper deals with the development of the first prototype of this unit. An empirical model of such
device is also proposed in order to be coupled with a building model. This aims at determining the seasonal
performance of the device and thus the potential energy saving (compared to other technologies) resulting from
its use.
The first part of the paper presents the specifications and the final characteristics of the developed device. In this
context, a by-pass for free cooling in summer conditions as well as the strategies under frosting conditions are
described.
Secondly, the coefficient of performance (COP) of such device is recalled. In the early stage of the development
process, the COP is determined based on the manufacturer data of the heat recovery exchanger and the fans. The
coupling between fan curve and the predicted hydraulic performance of the unit allows for determining a first
approximation of the fans electrical consumption for several delivered flow rates.
The third part of the paper focuses on the experimental investigations carried out in order to determine the flow
rate really delivered by the unit. Electrical consumptions of several flow rates are also measured in order to
characterize the COP of the unit in those conditions.
Finally, a comparison between the measured and the predicted performance based on manufacturer data has been
realized in terms of COP. A performance map based on experimental results is proposed in order to be coupled
with a building model.