Air Design has just released a new defined range of energy recovery units developed and manufactured in Brisbane.

Air Design Energy Recovery Sales Manager Adrian Bartlett said heat exchangers were fast becoming more popular as architects, developers and building owners searched for technologies that would help to reduce the cost of heating or cooling an occupied space.

“Heat exchangers transfer the heat (or cool) from the exhaust air leaving a building, to the fresh air coming in. This means less energy needs to be expended to bring the fresh air up to (or down to) the required indoor temperature and therefore saving cost,” he said.

This high quality, locally made range of energy recovery units, compliment Air Design's Modutherm Air Handling units and fan coil products. This new range consists of the Compact and Plantroom Series of energy recovery units. As the name suggests, the Compact series includes four low profile products with their maximum height between 450 and 650mm and an air flow capacity between 200 and 900L/s which makes them ideal for in-ceiling mounting. The larger capacity Plantroom series has an airflow capacity between 700 and 1800L/s and a configuration that has one fan on top of the other. The Plantroom series is much taller but are still compact and are ideal where larger air flows are required.

Adrian said the range came with two different heat exchange options – total energy transfer or sensible only energy transfer.

“The total energy transfer exchanger transfers both latent heat and moisture and is ideal for areas with high humidity. It is made from a special moisture infiltration paper which allows water molecules to pass between airstreams, but not larger molecules such as odour,” he said. “However, most applications only require sensible heat exchange and this is achieved with an aluminium heat exchanger.”

“We manufacture the energy recovery units to the same high standard as our Modutherm air handing units. They all have an extruded aluminium pentapost construction and double skin polyurethane-insulated panels with a colorbond exterior. A side panel with quick release quarter turn locks allows easy access to internal components for maintenance and service.”

The units come with a variety of direct-drive single-phase fans, with an option for EC motors. They also feature Integral 50mm deep panel filters for both exhaust and supply air streams.

Adrian said the energy recovery units were a good option for developers looking for ‘green’ products. The polyurethane used in the panels does not contain hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs) or hydro-chlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and has an ozone depletion potential (ODP) and global warming potential of zero.

The Compact and Plantroom series of energy recovery units are now available through the Fantech network.