Performance investigation of an independent dedicated outdoor air system for energy-plus houses

This study proposes an independent dedicated outdoor air system (IDOAS) for energy-plus houses under the humid subtropical climate located in Daejeon, South Korea. The proposed IDOAS can be used as a stand-alone ventilation and dehumidification system. In order to investigate the energy efficiency of the IDOAS, four different types of systems are simulated including the conventional dehumidifier (i.e., Case 1) and conventional dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) (i.e., Case 2). The first IDOAS (i.e., Case 3) is designed such that the evaporator of the heat pump is located at the supply air (SA) side and the two separated condensers are located on the SA and exhaust air sides, respectively. The second IDOAS (i.e., Case 4) has a direct evaporative cooler located on the exhaust air side to improve the heat extraction rate. It is shown that the conventional DOAS and IDOAS-2 yielded the highest energy efficient system.