Earth Tube Heat Exchangers

摘要

Results of experiments in India, with a novel heat exchanger system, provide energy-saving potential, lowering summer in-house temperatures and heating incoming air in winter. In the current situation of energy shortage and its escalating prices, airconditioning systems with low energy consumption have started receiving overdue attention. One such system is an earthpipe heat exchanger. An earth tube heat exchanger system involves the transfer between soil, tubes and the air flowing through the tubeswhen they are placed below the ground surface. The ambient air is drawn through the tube ends exposed to the atmosphere. As the air travels the length of the tube it is preconditioned before entering the poultry house. Since the tubes are placed sufficiently deep in the soil where the soil temperature variations are small, ambient air can be cooled during the summer months or heated during winter. Therefore, this system has the potential of being used throughout the year. The cooled or heated air can be directly used in a poultry house or can act as a preconditioning facility reducing the energy demand in cooling or heating of the ambient air. The installation of the earth pipes will be the only additional capital investment.