Introduction

 

 

 

 

 

 

Engineering Problem

 

         Climate control through HVAC applications is a leading consumer of power, both residentially and commercially. With limited energy resources, we must start to look to energy efficient products that can be incorporated with renewable resources to solve an issue with growing demand of power. Our group project is addressing this issue with the use of cooling and heating aspects that are less energy demanding.

 

Function Statement

 

         A fan motor will drive recirculated air over cooled and/or heated coils within a containment structure, producing air at a comfortable output temperature.

 

         This fan coil unit must also be built to house the heat exchanger. This apparatus will be able to encapsulate the heat exchanger and allow access to the inside via a removable side panel. The airflow will be split at the fan motor, with a controllable amount of air flowing to both the evaporative unit and to the fan coil unit.  

Requirements

 

The aspect of the system analyzed in this report must meet the following requirements:

 

• Must provide a source of 55° F air if cooling is taking place, and an 85°F stream of air if heating.

• Fan motor must deliver a flow rate of 100 CFM to both the evaporator and to the air handling unit

• Containment apparatus must be built to hold heat exchanging element with accessibility through removable side panel secured with screws.

• Apparatus must have a divergence method of splitting air flow

 

 

 

         The fan will require an outside power supply and will be ducted into a return and supply cycle, meaning that it’s installation will be in-line.

 

Engineering Merit

           

The engineering merit of this aspect of our project will be in the analysis of heat transfer between the water in the two separate temperature coils and the air being drawn through the air handler. There will also be merit in the optimization of air flow over said coils to have maximum heat transfer and efficient climate control. Incorporation of both the heating and cooling heat exchangers will offer a wider range of options for climate control in all applications.  

 

Scope of Effort

        

         Although part of a larger, more complex system, the scope of this aspect will be limited to the analysis and optimization of airflow over the cooling coils of the system. There is a heating aspect to our system, but the scope has been limited extensively to the optimization of our cooling aspect.

Success Criteria

 

         To be an effective addition to an existing HVAC system, we will need to see a 20° F drop in temperature over these coils to cool the air (from 75° F entry air to 55° F exit air), and a 20° F raise in temperature if heating (from 65° F entry to 85° F exit). As discussed before, the heating aspect will not be analyzed through this report.

 

         The optimization in the project will be determined by changing both the hydronic flow rate of fluid through the coils and the air flow rate over the coils to get to a 20° F temperature fluctuation. Although this may be hard to obtain, our team will have to constantly work together to optimize each aspect to give enhanced performance aspects to each other.