Maine commercial and industrial facilities are receiving incentives for heat recovery systems and saving energy in high-value areas like air ventilation and water heating . Efficiency Maine has supported projects ranging from common energy recovery ventilators for fresh air supply in schools and offices to complex waste heat recovery in industrial processes . Heat recovery is a broad topic with equally broad applications that can help reduce energy use in buildings ranging from residences to commercial spaces and large industrial facilities . Its most common application is airto-air heat exchangers , or energy recovery ventilators ( ERVs ), that recover energy from exhaust air to precondition incoming outdoor supply air . Air-to-air heat exchangers are usually about 70 % to 80 % efficient and ERV systems typically provide a high rate of return with short-term , simple paybacks . Instead of direct air-to-air ERVs , larger facilities might use a glycol loop that circulates a water |
glycol mixture with a piping loop from exhaust air streams to supply air ventilation as a means of energy recovery ( air-to-water and waterto-air ). Another common application for heat recovery is to recover heat rejection off of a refrigeration system . Grocery stores and other facilities with large cooling loads use this application because they inherently reject large amounts of heat in order to maintain their operating conditions . Efficiency Maine was able to help Hannaford install glycol loop-based heat exchanger systems in two of their stores in order to recover heat from the refrigeration system and offset building heating needs . These systems typically involve using a water-to-water heat exchanger to recover heat from the refrigeration system , which can be used either directly in waterto-air heat exchangers to preheat outdoor supply air or to preheat water using another water-towater heat exchanger . |
Thermal Energy International Inc . has received a contract from one of the largest multinational pharmaceutical companies to provide detailed engineering services for a potential heat recovery project at one of the pharmaceutical company ’ s sites . After receiving orders for three major heat recovery projects from a different pharmaceutical company , this is the second major pharmaceutical company to engage Thermal Energy for heat recovery projects . This contract , valued at USD 500,000 , is the largest engineering services project Thermal Energy has received in its history . All figures are shown in CAD . “ We are excited to have received such a significant engineering order from another world-leading pharmaceutical company ,” |
said William Crossland , CEO of Thermal Energy International . “ The engineering to be done under this contract is much more extensive than the level we would provide under one of our project development agreements or PDAs . In fact , we signed a PDA with this company approximately a year ago and based on the outcome of the PDA the client has retained us to complete the full detailed engineering for the project . Typically , customers prefer the detailed engineering to be part of a total turn-key fixed-priced project agreement but in this case , the customer ’ s preference is to approve the project in stages . This is also a lower risk option for Thermal Energy because firm pricing will not be provided until the detailed engineering is completed .” |
Enertopia said it has secured US patent 12224704 from the United States Patent Trademark Office ( USPTO ) for its solar panel heat recovery system . The system is designed to capture and retain moisture that forms on the panel at dew point temperatures . A moisture collection layer between the panel and a liquid transfer system enables rapid heat transfer |
from the photovoltaic panel to the liquid transfer system . “ In some instances , during periods when , due to surrounding ambient conditions , moisture will not naturally form , the heat recovery system described herein may employ a controlled water emitting means to ensure saturation of the moisture collection layer ,” the company said . |
The moisture collection layer could also be used to provide water for irrigation of plants in dry areas . The company said that solar panels equipped with cooling systems are potentially exposed to thermal shock when they come into contact with a cool liquid transfer system . “ Our patented process addresses this issue by providing an open |
loop system that helps to prevent or limit thermal shock , and thus failure ,” said the company . “ The open loop system separates the liquid transfer systems that may include a cool liquid from the photovoltaic panel , while still rapidly encouraging and / or extracting heat from the photovoltaic panel and directing the heat to the liquid transfer systems .” |