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

建筑物是加拿大社会和经济不可或缺的一部分，加拿大人90%以上的时间都花在建筑物上。此外，在加拿大和其他发达国家，30%至50%的能源消耗用于加热和冷却建筑物。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物对于一个健康，繁荣和可持续的国家至关重要。 最近在能源效率方面的进步减少了建筑物加热或冷却所需的能源。在以下方面取得了重大进展： (1)建筑围护结构性能（例如，更好的窗户和绝缘材料），从而减少加热或冷却建筑物所需的能源， (2)HVAC设备效率（其中更高的效率意味着在相同的能量输入（例如电力或天然气）下，可以向建筑物添加更多的热量或从建筑物中移除更多的热量）。 尽管这些进步改善了建筑物的性能，甚至导致建筑物在一定时期内产生与消耗一样多的能量（称为“净零能源建筑”），但对建筑物中的水分转移所做的工作相对较少。结果，HVAC设备的湿气传递效率几乎没有变化，即使在冷却过程期间从热湿空气流中去除湿气可能需要比简单地冷却空气而没有湿气传递多2至3倍的能量。此外，政府间气候变化专门委员会预测，在本世纪，建筑物中对冷却的需求将增加30倍，这意味着水分转移效率将变得更加重要。 拟议的NSERC发现补助金旨在通过研究两种水分交换器来提高HVAC系统的水分传输效率： (a)液体-空气膜能量交换器（LAMEE），我的研究小组最近的一项发展，获得了NSERC协同奖， (b)涂有干燥剂的能量轮，这是一项成熟的技术 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）污垢和（3）这些能量交换器中的吸附，这对上述两种水分交换器（LAMEE和能量轮）的实际应用很重要。因此，这项发现补助金研究将解决对控制建筑物湿度的节能HVAC系统日益增长的需求，同时提供数据，提高对热量和水分传递过程以及表面相变的基本理解。

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.