Design and Analysis of HVAC system using Earth Air Tunnel Heat Exchanger

Abstract

The Earth Air Tunnel Heat Exchanger (EATHE) is a passive cooling and heating system for interior spaces. The hybrid method uses an active agent fan for air movement, but a passive agent ground soil is used to cool and heat the air. Since the temperature of the earth underneath remains constant and around human comfort levels, pipes are placed underground and air is blown through them to cool or heat according to the season. EATHE may be used to cool homes, buildings, and other systems, and it is still in use in some locations. There is a need to transition from high-energy active user tactics to low-energy ones. One of these strategies is EATHE. There has been a lot of study done on it, including the creation of methods for heat exchanger design, CFD analysis, and so on. The purpose of this work is to contribute to the further development of EATHE. We devised an approach in which we assume a maximum cooling load in a building and construct a heat exchanger based on this input factor, determining the needed pipe diameter and length to cool the load inside the building. We assume certain conditions, such as the needed room temperature, the maximum outside temperature, and the air velocity. The purpose of this publication is to promote the usage and research of ground source heat energy. Although EATHE has a higher initial installation cost than a VRF air-conditioning system, it saves greatly on both power and costs over time. We recognize the limitations of EATHE systems in comparison to AC systems and hope that my research will assist others in overcoming them.