Study of the ventilation system in a warehouse and a cooking school : Impact of the use of a heat exchanger system and a more optimised operating schedule

Abstract: The motivation of this project is found on the past trend of growing greenhouse gases emissions and, also growing, energy use over the world that still remains. This trend overlaps with a more recent increase in the awareness regarding the effects of human activities towards the Earth ecosystems. Thus, the upgrade of the already-in-use systems is necessary to move towards greener and more modern technologies that permit continue with the economic growth while building more sustainable societies. Thereby, the research focuses on the improvement of the ventilation system of a warehouse building and a cooking school located in the same plot, in an industrial area in Gävle, Sweden. The current system conditions, even consisting in some cases in recirculating air handling units, doesn’t permit the utilisation of the waste heat by bringing it back to the system. The strategy used during the project follows a case study scheme: looking the system, understanding it in a complete way and designing the proper solution that fulfils the requirements. The study was approached as an energy audit: with several meetings with the company, collecting airflows data with the thermo-anemometer device, sketching the required building drawings and designing the optimal solution for the company. Finally, the project resulted in the selection of the proper air handling unit, equipped with a heat recovery system, and the design of its ventilation duct system that permit a heat energy savings derived of the heat demand used to heat the makeup air of about 67 %. Furthermore, the occupancy study helped design the new scheduling for the ventilation periods that reduce the electricity demand of the ventilation system by 30 %. Thus, was obtained a significant energy use reduction that results in a sizeable energy cost saving.