REHAU Ltd. -

MAXIMUM ENERGY EFFICIENCY

QUEEN ELIZABETH SCHOOL: FOR FOR THE FUTURE WITH GROUND_AIR HEAT EXCHANGER SYSTEM

The multiple award winning REHAU antimicrobial ground-air heat exchanger system, AWADUKT Thermo, recently came into use in a large, high profile school building. The building project involves the installation of maximum energy efficiency, controlled ventilation in the new Queen Elizabeth School in the town of Wimborne in Dorset. The school itself was constructed in the context of the “Building Schools for the Future” project, of which the objective is the redevelopment and modernisation of every secondary school all over England.

Queen Elizabeths School, Dorset

Dorset County Council pledged additional funding for the school, in order to produce a reference object for sustainable construction. Around 3,500 metres of DN 250 pipeline were laid under the three school buildings at a depth of around 1.5 metres.

How the system works

The antimicrobial ground-air heat exchanger system, AWADUKT Thermo, exploits the energy storage capacity of the earth to increase the efficiency of controlled ventilation. Here, the fresh air sucked in is heated by the temperature of the earth in the winter and cooled in the summer. As such, the ventilation system can produce savings in terms of energy costs and therefore reduced operating costs.

Furthermore, AWADUKT Thermo has an antimicrobial inner layer in the pipes, which is mixed with silver particles and thereby reduces microbial growth. This contributes to improving the air quality in the building.

Proven benefits

The use of the antimicrobial ground-air heat exchanger system, AWADUKT Thermo, enables preheating of the air by up to 9°C in the winter and pre-cooling by up to 14°C in the summer. In the summer months, the pleasant cooling effect considerably improves the air quality in the building and in the winter, the energy consumption is significantly reduced. This is a doubly satisfying result, as it not only protects the environment, it also reduces the high energy costs.

Summary of the advantages of the AWADUKT Thermo system:

Antimicrobial pipe inner layer made of silver to prevent microbial growth
PP material with improved heat conductivity for optimum heat transfer
High longitudinal rigidity for safe condensate drainage
Complete system from the air inlet to the heat recovery unit
Individual design with the bespoke REHAU calculation software
Improved air quality in the building
Preheating of outside air in the winter to reduce heating costs
Pleasant cooling effect in the summer

The sophisticated, antimicrobial AWADUKT Thermo system won three coveted awards within just one year: most recently, it was awarded the HVAC&R innovation price for 2007, which is given annually by Italian newspaper “Costruire Impianti”. As early as January 2007, it was honoured with the gold medal at the international construction trade fair, BUDMA, in Poland and, in February 2007 with an innovation prize at France’s only specialist trade fair for renewable energy sources, “Salon des énergies renouvelables“.

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