Project Snapshot: Millipore Research and Development | Energy Recovery Air Handling Unit

Project: Millipore R&D Building
Location: Bedford,  MA
Engineer: Parsons
Contractor: Turner Construction Company
Manufacturer: Strobic Air, Cambridgeport, Heat Pipe Technology
Equipment: Energy Recovery Air Handling Units
Size: (4) 30,000 CFM Units
DAC Sales Engineer: Jim Shiminski

 
Millipore-HRUProject Challenge:    
This was a new building project.  The engineer, owner and contractor were all looking to create a design that provided the maximum energy savings while meeting the Mass. Energy Code.  The preliminary design called for 4 separate 30,000 CFM Make-Up Air Handling Units (AHUs) and 2 each Strobic Air Exhaust Energy Recovery Units (ERU’s). The total system air side was 120,000 CFM.  The original design included a pumped glycol energy recovery loop connecting each AHU to respective ERUs.  We did a preliminary estimates and determined that the energy recovery effectiveness would be about 45% for this system.  After subtracting out pumping energy the net effectiveness was expected to be closer to 40%.

Solution:
In this case we proposed to combine both supply and exhaust into one unit.  Instead of pumped glycol energy recovery we designed a Heat Pipe from Heat Pipe Technology into each of the units.  The Energy Recovery Air Handling Units were each sized for 30,000 CFM on both the supply and exhaust side.  The major advantage of this system was that it incorporated the use of a heat pipe to recover 65% of the energy from the exhaust air stream.  The costs for the two proposals were comparable after including the piping costs into the pumped glycol solution. 

 

Result:
The revised design was a much easier install.  The resulting system is at least 50% more energy efficient.   The units are all aluminum construction.  The owner now has a passive energy recovery system that does not have to be maintained.  That is a huge plus.

For questions on Energy Recovery Air Handling Units,  askRick?

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