Design and operation of an innovative HVAC system for a net-positive energy solar decathlon house

This paper presents the design and operation of a novel Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system for a net-positive energy Solar Decathlon house that Team UOW constructed to compete within the Solar Decathlon Middle East (SDME) 2018 competition. The HVAC system primarily consists of an air-to-water heat pump, an Energy Recovery Ventilator, a dehumidification/humidification heat pump, a water-based Thermal Energy Storage unit using Phase Change Materials, and radiant panels. The HVAC system was developed to address the challenging climatic conditions in the remote desert environment of the competition site (and applicable to many parts of Australia) to provide energy-efficient indoor space cooling and acceptable indoor thermal comfort, together with the ability to shift HVAC peak energy demand. This new HVAC system was demonstrated during the competition period and successfully maintained indoor thermal comfort conditions, which resulted in Team UOW winning first and second places respectively in the thermal comfort and energy efficiency sub-contests, and second overall in the competition. In this paper, we introduce this innovative HVAC system, detail the unique design approach to mitigating the challenging climatic conditions, and discuss its operation during the competition.