A Novel ventilation/Heat recovery heat pump.

The trend towards improving building air-tightness to save energy has increased theincidence of poor indoor air quality and associated problems, such as condensation onwindows, mould, rot and fungus on window frames. Mechanical ventilation 1 heat recoverysystems combined with heat pumps offer a means of significantly improving indoor airquality as well as providing heating and cooling required in buildings.This paper is concerned with the development of a novel ventilation I heat recovery systemfor the domestic market1. The new system has a high theoretical coefficient of performanceand uses an "environmentally-friendly" refrigerant. In addition, the heat pump is compactand requires little maintenance. Computer modelling of the system has been carried outusing different refigerants. Several prototype systems have been designed, constructed andtested in the laboratory. These include ventilation heat recovery systems comprised of heatpipes with wire fins.