Study of Heat and Mass Transfer Through an Earth to Air Heat Exchanger Equipped with Fan in South West of Algeria

Earth to air heat exchanger is a very old technique used 3000 years B.C in arid regions where that was called Qanat.In the present experimental study, the potentials of earth to air heat exchanger to provide thermal comfort for winter weather conditions in South west of Algeria described as arid region are investigated.An EAHE made of 66 meter of PVC tube and buried at 1.5 meter underground in agriculture zone equipped with 33 W fan was studied.Thermal and hygrometric analysis of air passing inside the tube form inlet to outlet was conducted.The results show the system was able to create two thermal regimes: heating regime with a gain of 13 ° C (from 00h to 11h and from 17h to 23h) and cooling regime (from 12h to 16h) with 6 ° C in the same day.Relative humidity was reduced by 32 % of 90 % of studied cases which stops the development of micro-organism and reducing Internal Air Quality.