The Design, Construction and Performance Evaluation of Earth -to -Air Heat Exchanger for Room Cooling in Sokoto, Nigeria

Abstract

Tropical climate is characterised by high ambient temperatures and solar radiation, a combination of these factors causes thermal discomfort in buildings. With the rapid increase in population and economic growth of countries in the tropical regions, it is becoming inevitable that passive and low energy strategies must be used as suitable alternatives. Earth air heat exchanger (EAHX)  s a subterranean ventilation system that explores soil temperature below the surface to pre-cool or pre-heat ventilation
air. Performance of the earth air heat exchanger varies with climatic and soil condition of the area. In this research paper, an Earth air heat exchanger (EAHX) was designed, constructed and installed at Sokoto energy research centre, Usmanu Danfodiyo
University, Sokoto, Nigeria, Its actual field performance was evaluated. The results suggested that the earth air heat exchanger
alone is not sufficient to create thermal comfort, but can provide significant portion of cooling load. The average coefficient of
performance (COP) in the hot season was obtained at 3.45 .The earth air heat exchanger was able to cool the hot ambient air by
4.50C during hot season.