OR-10-010 -- Clean Room Exhaust Energy Recovery Optimization Design PDF

The general exhaust system of a clean room for hi-tech fabrication plants (FABs) contains a great deal of energy for make-up air handling units (MAUs) for pre-cooling and preheating usage. The present study employed a concept of the second law of thermodynamics analysis to optimize the design of a compact heat exchanger installed in a MAU, based on a specified external dimension and a fixed inlet temperature and mass flow rate for the hot and cold sides of the exchanger. Results indicate that an appropriate compact heat exchanger can be sized on the basis of the second law of thermodynamics analysis within minimum entropy production (or irreversibility), caused by both temperature difference and pressure drop. The optimized compact heat exchanger in this study can save 5 and 12% of the energy for pre-cooling and pre-heating in the MAU, respectively.

Units: Dual