Computational modeling and experimental validation of heat recovery ventilator under partially wet conditions

This study investigates the effect of condensation on the thermal performance of a plate-type heat recovery ventilator designed for broiler houses. The temperature efficiency of the air-to-air heat exchanger is calculated by a simplified method based on a commercial computational fluid dynamics program. The concept of artificial specific heat of air is introduced in order to take into account the latent heat released by internal condensation. Temperature efficiency is obtained by varying system parameters such as the airflow rate, outdoor temperature, and indoor relative humidity. Results obtained using the model are compared with the experimental results of the authors' previous work. Results of the temperature efficiency are in good agreement with the experimental results for either dry or partially wet conditions within the range of experimental uncertainties. Comparisons are also made for the rates of condensation and the temperature distributions on the internal surface of the heat exchanger.