CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium 2023

Last month, VEXO International sponsored the CIBSE ASHRAE Technical Symposium 2023 in University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

The 2023 theme was Delivering Sustainable, Safe and Healthy Buildings for a net zero future and a range of peer reviewed papers and presentations outlining the latest developments in practice, technology and policy and showcase the latest guidance for building services engineers were presented.

Darren Wilkinson, Managing Director and Founder of VEXO International, presented the research paper “Investigating the efficiency of mechanical filtration in restoring the efficiency of a corroded closed looped heating and cooling system”, part of a PhD study from Loughborough University, sponsored by VEXO International and authored by Amr Suliman, Darren Wilkinson, Mahroo Eftekhari and Vanda Dimitriou.

Corrosion has been an ever-present issue facing hydronic heating systems which leads to significant plant failure as well as financial and energy costs. This has become especially important as there has been a need to improve plant efficiency to reduce energy use and increase the lifecycle of the system.

This research investigates the ability of mechanical filters in restoring system efficiency by improving the quality of the thermal fluid. A purpose-built experimental rig was constructed to replicate a closed looped hydronic system able to simulate different parameter conditions and water qualities and understand their impact in the system performance.

To simulate the amount of corrosion in the system, magnetite powder was used in order to maintain realism. The results found that the pump energy can be reduced by over 80% by filtering the water.

Watch the full session on the video below and download the full paper from the Loughborough University website here.