EATHE IN BRIEF

With increasing worldwide awareness about the serious environmental problems due to fossil fuel consumption, efforts are being made to develop energy-efficient and environmentally friendly systems by utilization of non-polluting renewable energy sources. It is envisaged that through hybrid mode, economics of earth air tunnel and energy consumption of air conditioners both can be significantly improved. Integration of Passive cooling system (with active cooling system) such as Earth air tunnel, with other cooling systems can increase the useful hours and improve their economics. To reduce the power consumed by Air Conditioner we installed a 200 feet long tunnel (4) made of PVC buried in the Earth at 12 feet depth in our college campus. It is assumed that the temperature of Earth remains same at or below the depth of 12 feet i.e. 28 oC, so the Earth surface works as heat source in winter season & as sink in summer season. We also installed a Blower at the suction side of tunnel so that the maximum amount of conditioned air through the tunnel can be made available to operate various hybrid modes. During the project work we also find out a parameter named DERATING FACTOR. It is assumed that the temperature of Earth remains same at depth of 12 feet, i.e. 28 0 & it is theoretically true & all the research work, invention etc. are made on this assumption. But in actual practice the thermal performance of the Earth decreases as actual heat transfer takes place. This behavior of Earth is known as derating factor for Earth. The four modes for which experimental investigations carried out are: 1.

Mode First (Base Case): Air conditioner alone supplies the conditioned air to the room
and EATHE is not functional.

2.

Mode Second (100% Room Cooling): In this mode whole of the fresh air taken
from ambient is conditioned (precooled in summer) by EATHE and fed into the room to provide a sort of precooling. A/C was also running in parallel. It was observed that the electric power consumption of A/C decreased by 6.02 % in comparison of base case. Saving was observed because of overall reduced thermal loading of Air Conditioner.

3.

Mode Third (100% Condenser Cooling): In this mode the whole conditioned from
Earth-Air Tunnel Heat Exchanger (EATHE) was fed to the air suction side of window A/C for enhanced condenser cooling. It was observed that the electrical power consumption of A/C decreased by 18.07%.

4.

Mode Fourth (50% Room & 50% Condenser Cooling) : Air conditioner
supplies the conditioned air to room and 50% conditioned air from EATHE is fed to the room directly and remaining 50% air is used for condenser cooling of air conditioner.

In this mode power consumption of A/C increased by 16.06%.

It is found that less power consumption is occur in case of 100% condenser cooling then in 100% room cooling & 50-50 mode respectively. Maximum power consumption is occurring in only A/C mode.

Experimental setup for EATHE

Basic earth air pipe heat exchanger

Experimental set-up of hybrid EATHE system.

Schematic diagram of New Hybrid Earth-Air Heat Exchanger

Cost Recovery of Setup :

The cost is very essential factor for any project because the whole process depends on this parameter. The setup cost (tunnel installation, blower unit) will be recovered very soon in the form of reduced electricity bill. The time duration of recovery depends on setup size (Domestic or commercial). This project proved successful for commercial as well as for domestic utilities.