Heat and Moisture Exchangers for Energy-Efficient Buildings: Fouling, Frosting and Sorption

建筑是加拿大社会和经济不可分割的一部分，因为加拿大人90%以上的时间都花在建筑上。此外，在加拿大和其他发达国家，30%至50%的能源消耗用于建筑物的供暖和制冷。因此，为加拿大人提供舒适和健康的工作和生活场所的建筑对于一个健康、繁荣和可持续的国家至关重要。*******能源效率的最新进展已经减少了加热或冷却建筑物所需的能源量。取得的主要进展包括：****(1)建筑围护结构性能（例如，更好的窗户和隔热），从而减少加热或冷却建筑物所需的能源，以及****(2)暖通空调设备效率（其中更高的效率意味着可以在相同的能量输入（如电力或天然气）下向建筑物增加或减少更多的热量）。****尽管这些进步提高了建筑性能，甚至导致建筑在一定时期内产生与消耗一样多的能量（称为“净零能耗建筑”），但在建筑中的水分转移方面做的工作相对较少。因此，即使在冷却过程中从湿热气流中去除湿气可能需要比简单冷却没有湿气传递的空气多2到3倍的能量，暖通空调设备的湿气传递效率也几乎没有变化。此外，政府间气候变化专门委员会预测，本世纪建筑物的制冷需求将增加30倍，这意味着水分传递效率将变得更加重要。*******提议的NSERC发现资助旨在通过研究两种湿气交换器来提高HVAC系统的水分传递效率：****(a)液-气膜能量交换器（LAMEEs），我的研究小组最近开发的一项获得了NSERC协同奖，****(b)干燥剂涂层能量轮，一项成熟的技术。****这将通过对三种表面现象进行实验和数值研究来实现：(1)结霜，(2)结垢和(3)这些能量交换器中的吸附，这对于上述两种水分交换器（LAMEEs和能量轮）的实际应用非常重要。因此，这项发现基金的研究将解决对节能HVAC系统日益增长的需求，该系统可以控制建筑物中的水分，同时提供数据，以提高对表面热量和水分传递过程和相变的基本理解

Buildings are an integral part of Canadian society and economy as Canadians spend over 90% of their time in buildings. Furthermore, 30% to 50% of energy consumption is used to heat and cool buildings in Canada and other developed countries. Thus, buildings that provide Canadians with a comfortable and healthy place to work and live are essential for a healthy, prosperous and sustainable nation.*******Recent advances in energy-efficiency have reduced the amount of energy required to heat or cool buildings. Major advances have been achieved in:****(1) building envelope performance (e.g., better windows and insulation) so that less energy is needed to heat or cool buildings, and****(2) HVAC equipment efficiency (where a higher efficiency means that more heat can be added to or removed from the building with the same energy input such as electricity or natural gas).****Despite these advances, which have improved building performance and even led to buildings that produce as much energy as they consume over a certain period (called “net-zero energy buildings”), relatively little work has been done on the moisture transfer in buildings. As a result, the moisture transfer efficiency of HVAC equipment has changed little even though removing moisture from a hot humid air stream during a cooling process may require 2 to 3 times more energy than simply cooling the air with no moisture transfer. Furthermore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that the demand for cooling in buildings will increase 30 times over this century meaning that moisture transfer efficiency will become even more important.*******The proposed NSERC Discovery Grant aims to improve the moisture transfer efficiency of HVAC systems by studying two moisture exchangers:****(a) liquid-to-air membrane energy exchangers (LAMEEs), a recent development of my research group that received a NSERC Synergy Award, and****(b) desiccant-coated energy wheels, an established technology.****This will be achieved by conducting experimental and numerical studies on three surface phenomena: (1) FROSTING, (2) FOULING and (3) SORPTION in these energy exchangers, which are important for practical application of the two moisture exchangers noted above (LAMEEs and energy wheels). Thus, this Discovery Grant research will address the growing need for energy-efficient HVAC systems that control moisture in buildings, while providing data that will improve the fundamental understanding of heat and moisture transfer processes and phase change at surfaces.***