The residential application of chain recooling energy recovery ventilator system in a hot and humid climate

The Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) is proven efficient for residential ventilation applications. Yet, certain drawbacks, including a more confined space due to descended ceiling, a lengthy accompanying duct system, and over-ventilation issues that result in extensive energy consumption, need to be addressed. In this study, a novel Chain Recooling Energy Recovery Ventilator (CR-ERV) system is proposed to replace the typical ERV system design to solve the shortcomings above. By conducting an experiment on a three-bedroom condo in a hot and humid climate, it was found that compared to the natural ventilation strategy, the proposed system can help reduce the mean indoor carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration from 976 to 677 ppm and PM_2.5 concentration from 6.4 to 4.1 μg/m³, representing a 29% and 34% reduction, respectively. From the regulatory perspective, only 64.4% of the natural-ventilated hours have a CO₂ concentration below the 1000 ppm limit per the local air quality Act. This fraction can be improved to 99% after adopting the proposed ventilation system. All these benefits come at the cost of a slight 2.3% increase in electricity consumption. In summary, the proposed system is proven efficient, and its implementation is fairly straightforward and economical; thus might be worth integrating into future residential building projects.