Exergy Analysis of a Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) System

According to the first law of thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed; except that energy can be changed from one form to the other. Exergy refers to the maximum useful work that can be obtained from a system at a given state in a given environment. This implies that the conservation law applies to energy but it is subjected to exergy. Thus, using exergy analysis, a system can be optimized by analyzing the weakness of the exergy where the useful work obtained is not maximum or efficient. In this paper, the principle of exergy will be analyzed considering the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, taking into account possible solutions of system designs. Analytical reviews and results will be used to determine the most efficient system by reducing the amount of exergy being used and thus reducing the amount of energy that is being consumed.

I. Introduction

The rising concern that the world’s energy resources are scarce has made scientists and engineers take a closer look at the energy conversion methods and devices in order to develop new techniques and better utilize the existing limited resources [1], [2]. HVAC is a technology used for providing acceptable thermal and indoor air quality. In simple terms, it is all the ventilation (cooling and heating) equipment’s that uses energy to provide service [3].