A Case Study: Experimental Investigation of

Earth to Air Heat Exchanger System

Thainswemong Choudhury

The use of earth as a heat source and as a sink which in combination with buried
pipes can serve as a direct heat exchanger with air passing through it and is an important
renewable energy concept. Earth to air heat exchanger based on this concept use the
storage capacity of the earth to condition the air.
The amount of heat exchanged between the air and the surrounding soil is a function of
surface area of the tunnel wall, Length of the tunnel, Inlet air temperature, Velocity of air
in the tunnel, Material of tunnel, Surface conditions of the tunnel wall and Depth of
tunnel from ground surface. The Earth Air Tunnel system utilizes the heat–storing
capacity of earth and the fact that year round temperature below a particular depth
remains almost constant throughout the year. Depending on the ambient temperature of
the location, the Earth Air Tunnel system can be used to provide both cooling during the
summer and heating during winter. The earth behaves as a huge collector – cum storage
medium and can be used as daily or seasonal storage medium. The ground possesses
much advantage due to its high capacity as well as its insulation potential. With an
average volumetric density of 1800 kg/m3 and thermal capacity of 920 J/kg/K, each cubic
meter of the ground, or rock bed, could store 1.67 MJ/kg. Beyond a particular depth, the
diurnal variation and the seasonal variation of the surface temperature do not penetrate.
Therefore, the earth’s temperature remains constant at that depth. The value of this
temperature is usually seen to be equivalent to the yearly mean of the soil air temperature
of its surface.
The climate of Northeastern region is governed by the Himalayan system and the
altitudinal differences are quite large. An average ambient temperature varies from 80 C
to 210 C during the winter seasons and 220 C to 300 C rainy seasons. Between June and
August the temperature sometimes go up to 400 C to 420 C. The rainfall is amongst the
heaviest in the country. In North Eastern Region, it is very difficult to provide electricity
in each and every hilly settlement due to physical and economical constraints. This
technology offers solution for those who don’t have electricity but want to cool/ heat the
room using fresh air exchange for various purposes such as Residential, Commercial
Building, Hospitals, Workshops, and Laboratories.
To attain the objective of the project successfully, the experimental setup has been
developed to study the real experimental data for the earth to air heat exchanger in North
eastern region of India. This experimental setup was developed by checking the physical
and thermal properties of the material. For the investigation, site selection is one of the
most important factors. To demonstrate the underground thermal potential, a site was
selected and a trench of 32m length, 3m width and 2.5m depth was dug.
Fig. Experimental Trench and the Bamboo mesh with cement plaster.
Bamboo mesh with cement plaster was used for tunneling and it was observed that it
has a good heat transmissibility as the transfer coefficient (U) value for 4 cm thick
Soil cement plaster on bamboo mesh is U =3.40 W/ m2- 0C, whereas for 10 cm PCC
work, U value was found U=4.00 W/ m2- 0C. The tunnels were laid in the trench as
shown below.

Fig. Bamboo mesh tunnels laid in the trench and ducts for air temperature
measurement.
Ducts were provided at regular interval distance to measure the air temperature. Air
is blown from the mouth of the tunnel and the temperature is measured at various
points of the tunnel and finally at the other end of the tunnel.
 The figure below shows the daily temperature of April 2007.

100 40
90

Temp.(Deg.Centigrade)
35
Relative Humidity(%)

80
70 30
60
50 25

40
20
30
20 15
1 289 577 865 1153 1441 1729 2017
Time(min)

The comparison of the temperature data measured at all the probe and the outlet showed
that there is a non fluctuating constant temperature of about 26 degree centigrade at the
end of the tunnel.
Temp.(deg.Centigrade)

45
40
35
30
25
20
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
Time(hr)

The top deep blue plot represents the outlet daily temperature measured in a day
and the bottom most represents the outlet air temperature after passing through the
earthen tunnel. The intermediate plots represents the temperature data at various probes
placed at regular intervals in the tunnel.
In this study, the development of experimental setup for Earth-Air Heat Exchanger was
used to predict the heating and cooling potential of the EAHX system in North Eastern
Region. For constructing EHAX system locally available bamboo was used for
construction of tunnel pipe. To improve the bamboo pipe conductivity, hydraform plaster
was used and literature reveals hydraform minimize humidity by 60 to 70 %. Since North
Eastern Region faces humid climate so the plaster has proven to be efective. Results
shows that irrespective to the inlet air temperature (ranges from 30 to 42 0C), outlet air
temperature is nearly about 25 0C, which is very promising results. After a series of
experimental analysis it was recommended that an underground tunnel based fresh air
delivery system for the building could be designed for biological lab, chemical lab,
mechanical workshop and can also be used in many rural areas. This also reduce load on
the designed air conditioning system and save on energy consumption. The cooling
potential of the cooled air in the room considering the room dimensions is yet to be
studied which is the future scope of the research considering the humid climate especially
at the north eastern region. This work has been studied and utilized by TERI (Tata
Energy Research Institute) in various energy efficient buildings at the northern part of
India.
References:
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distrubition in ground, 15 June 2001.
2. Moncef kraraiti and Jan F.Kreider, Analytical model for heat transfer in an
underground air tunnel, 11 July 1995.
3. A.Trombe, L.seares, Air earth exchanger study in real site experimentation and
simulation, 7 June 1994.
4. M. Bojic, G.Papadakis, S.Kyritsis, Energy from a two pipe earthy to air heat
exchanger, 28 August 1997.
5. M. Chandra, Passive and low energy cooling system of buildings-A review with
special reference to Indian conditions.
6. C.P.Jacovides, G.Mihalakakon, M.Sanpamouris and J.O.Lewis, On the ground
temperature profile for passive cooling applications in building, 29 April 1996.
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