Suitable for intensive livestock farming.
Strict ventilation rules apply in intensive livestock farming. These ventilation guidelines are based on the number of animals in an animal house.
In practice, ventilation systems extract hot air from the animal house in winter. In summer, they extract cool air, and replace it by hot outside ventilation air. Neither of these situations benefits the climate, nor animals' health. Heating and cooling are necessary in order to achieve optimum climate conditions. And this, in turn, goes hand in hand with high electricity consumption and correspondingly high costs.
The AeroX air-to-water heat exchanger can use groundwater to pre-condition the air, ensuring a more constant ventilation air temperature and requiring less heating or cooling. The result: considerably lower energy consumption.
The AeroX tube package draws outside air into the animal house. Water that has assumed the temperature of the groundwater flows through these hoses. The groundwater temperature is fairly constant throughout the year. In many locations in the Netherlands, the average temperature of the groundwater is between 10 and 15 °C, causing the air in the tubing to heat up in the winter and to cool down in summer. A positive side effect is that - depending on the current relative humidity - condensation will form on the heat exchanger. This will make the air in the animal house somewhat drier, which is more comfortable for the animals.
The calculation example below shows how the Exegy AeroCalc tool can be used to give a quick indication of the payback time.
Amount of air to be changed on a hot summer's day: 50000 m³/h
Current outside temperature: 30 °C
Current outdoor RH: 70 %
Heat exchanger supply water temperature: 14 °C
Here, the air can be cooled from 30 °C to 23 °C.
This also creates condensation on the tube package, causing drier air to enter the house.
Assuming this to be the daily situation for one year, and according to the Exegy AeroCalc calculation, the payback time will be between three and five years. This payback time is based solely on the lower energy consumption. The side effects of using these heat exchangers are improved animal performance (key figures) and the reduced use of antibiotics, shortening the payback time even more. The climate in the house will be more stable. The higher ventilation air temperature in winter enables ventilation to be increased while using the same amount of energy. This will improve feed conversion. Furthermore, the maximum ventilation in summer will be significantly lower, reducing the emissions of ammonia and particulate matter.