The Use of a Heat Pump in a Ventilation Unit as an Economical and Ecological Source of Heat for the Ventilation System of an Indoor Swimming Pool Facility

Abstract

Air handling units are usually used to maintain the thermal and humidity parameters in indoor swimming pools that are used for lap swimming and recreation. Their use throughout the year consumes much more energy than, for example, air conditioning in residential or office buildings. Their considerable energy consumption is due to the need for their continuous operation to remove moisture gains from the evaporation of water and to heat the air and cover the heat losses of the pool. It is possible to design ventilation devices in such a way that the operating costs will be reduced, and the environmental impact will be significantly reduced. In this article, six different ventilation units in which different heat sources are used to heat the ventilation air have been evaluated; the selection of which was based on the most commonly used solutions. The results of the analysis are aimed to show which of the available heat sources is the most advantageous in terms of global and operating costs, and in terms of low CO2 emissions. Indicators of both the final and primary energy consumption, as well as the operating and global costs, were determined. The recommended solution that was chosen was the one that had both the lowest cost index (18–20% lower than most ecological sources) and the low primary energy index (8–13% higher than most ecological sources). The results showed that a heat pump in the ventilation unit proved to be the most beneficial solution. Unfortunately, this solution is rarely used due to its high investment costs (20% higher). However, the results have shown that the investment cost of using an advanced air handling unit will be recouped in only two to three years. Also, the global cost for units with a heat pump proved to be the lowest, despite high investment cost.

Comparison of Single- and Multipipe Earth-to-Air Heat Exchangers in Terms of Energy Gains and Electricity Consumption: A Case Study for the Temperate Climate of Central Europe

“…The calculations were carried out as described in Section 2.2 and took into account a variable ventilation air stream, as opposed to the standard procedures used to calculate the energy performance of a building [58][59][60]. Only those hours of the year were taken into account when the ground temperature was at least 2 K higher than the outside air temperature in winter, and only those summer hours when the outside air temperature was higher than 20 • C. These restrictions were introduced to make the calculated results more realistic, thus taking into account the fact that earth-to-air heat exchangers do not operate all year round.…”

The Implementation of Multiple Linear Regression for Swimming Pool Facilities: Case Study at Jøa, Norway

“…The swimming facility at Jøa is a state-of-the-art swimming facility which complies with the Norwegian passive house standard [22]. It includes a ventilation heat recovery system equipped with a heat pump, as recommended in the literature [5,43], and conventional water treatment, which research has found to be the most effective water treatment train [44].…”

“…Within the "renovation wave", the European Commission recommends paying particular attention to energy-reducing refurbishment in types of buildings that support education and public health, such as schools and hospitals [2]. In swimming facilities, which support education and public health, the potential for energy reduction is considerable [4] and the literature associates these facilities with high specific energy use [5] and a large dispersion in energy use. The specific energy use ranges from 400 kWh/(m 2 •a) to almost 1600 kWh/(m 2 •a) [6][7][8][9].…”

An Experimental Study of a Thermally Activated Ceiling Containing Phase Change Material for Different Cooling Load Profiles

“…The need to reduce energy consumption contributes to the development of energyefficient and near-zero-energy buildings. Consequently, the overarching goal of HVAC systems is to provide the lowest possible energy consumption [1,2] for maintaining thermal comfort in a building [3]. Thermally activated ceilings can achieve high energy efficiency by reducing transmission losses and supply temperature during cooling.…”