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ZERN ENGINEERING™
by Blauberg Ventilatoren GmbH
Stäblistraße 6.
81477, Munich, Germany
| Enthalpy heat exchangers for your business |
Air-to-air enthalpy plate heat exchangers – smart ventilation with real savings♻️
• 🏢 Office ventilation systems
• 🏠 Residential energy recovery units
• 🏭 Industrial and process air recovery
• 🏫 Schools, libraries, and public buildings
• 🩺 Administrative areas in healthcare facilities*
*⚠️ Note: Enthalpy exchangers are suitable for general-use zones in hospitals (like lobbies or offices), but not for sterile spaces (ICUs, ORs), due to minimal but unavoidable air crossover.
So how much does it actually save?
Let’s take a realistic case — a ZERN ENGINEERING enthalpy unit handling 600 m³/h, running 12 hours a day, all year.
🌨️ Winter:
• Outdoor air: –5 °C → Indoor setpoint: +20 °C
• Recovery: up to 70% of heat from exhaust air
• Savings: ~10–12 kWh/day, totaling 1,500–1,800 kWh over the season
• ~€300–360 saved on heating
☀️ Summer:
• Outdoor air: +30 °C, 60% RH → Indoor setpoint: +22 °C, 45% RH
• Recovery: precooling + dehumidification (~4–5 kWh/day)
• Seasonal savings: ~500–600 kWh
• ~€100–120 off cooling and drying costs
🧾 Annual savings: €400–480 per unit, plus softer indoor climate and reduced HVAC wear.
Now apply that to a network of small retail spaces, classrooms, or hotel corridors — and you’re looking at thousands in savings, with zero moving parts to service.
Why ZERN ENGINEERING?
Our enthalpy plate heat exchangers aren’t just efficient — they’re engineered for real-life demands:
• 🔁 Dual energy recovery — both sensible and latent heat transfer in one compact unit
• 🧫 Antibacterial & mold-resistant membrane — does not support mold growth and blocks microorganisms
• 📐 Universal fit — standardized module sizes compatible with most ERV/HRV units
• 🔄 Easy retrofit and replacement — drop-in compatible with existing ventilation systems
• 🧱 Rigid, sealed frame construction — ensures high air tightness and minimal leakage
• 🛠️ No consumables, no moving parts — durable and low-maintenance
• 🌍 Built for harsh climates — works reliably in both cold and humid conditions
As energy prices rise and climate expectations grow, integrating heat and humidity recovery into your ventilation system isn’t a luxury — it’s common sense. If you’re designing smarter buildings, it starts with smarter air exchange.
| Counter-flow or cross-flow heat exchangers? |
When it comes to air-to-air plate heat exchangers, the way air streams move makes a big difference. The two most common designs – counter-flow and cross-flow – each have their own strengths. Let’s break it down.
💨 Counter-flow heat exchangers
In a counter-flow design, the warm and cold air streams move in opposite directions, separated by thin conductive plates. This setup allows for maximum temperature difference and longer contact time between air streams.
✅ Advantages:
– High heat recovery efficiency (up to 90%)
– Excellent for cold climates or ultra-low-energy buildings
– Reduces heating/cooling loads significantly
🔧 Considerations:
– Slightly more complex construction
– Can take up more space in some installations
📌 Best suited for:
1. Passive houses
2. Energy-efficient residential systems
3. Applications where energy savings are a top priority
💨 Cross-flow heat exchangers
In a cross-flow setup, the two air streams move perpendicularly to each other. While the temperature exchange is slightly less efficient, the design is compact, simple and cost-effective.
✅ Advantages:
– Compact and easy to install
– Lower manufacturing cost
– Good airflow performance with low pressure drop
🔧 Considerations:
– Lower heat recovery efficiency (typically 60-80%)
– May require airflow balancing in sensitive systems
📌 Best suited for:
1. Commercial and office buildings
2. Retrofitted ventilation systems
3. Projects with limited space or tighter budgets
So… Which one is better?🤔
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer- and that’s the beauty of it.
Both counter-flow and cross-flow heat exchangers are valuable tools in designing efficient, comfortable, and sustainable ventilation systems.
👉 Choose counter-flow for maximum energy savings.
👉 Choose cross-flow for practicality, compactness and economy.
Both get the job done – just with a different approach☺️
| How heat exchangers help in saving energy? |
🔬Let’s break down the physics behind one of the most efficient components in modern ventilation – the air-to-air plate heat exchanger.
This device uses the principle of thermal conduction to transfer heat between two streams of air – one outgoing (extract) and one incoming (fresh outdoor air).
The key is a series of thin, thermally conductive plates (often aluminium or polymer) arranged to form narrow channels:
➡️ Warm, stale indoor air flows through one set of channels.
⬅️ Cold, fresh air flows through adjacent channels in the opposite direction (counter-flow or cross-flow).
The air streams are completely separated, so there’s no contamination. But the heat passes through the plate walls from the warmer air to the cooler one – thanks to the temperature gradient and the plate’s thermal conductivity ♨️
What does that mean in practice?
❄️ In winter, the outgoing warm air preheats the incoming cold air.
☀️ In summer, the cooler indoor air pre-cools the hot incoming air.
With sensible heat recovery efficiencies of up to 70-90%, plate heat exchangers significantly reduce the need for heating and cooling – saving energy 🔋and reducing emissions 🌍.
The efficiency of a plate heat exchanger is highly dependent on its design parameters:
– Plate material and thickness affect thermal conductivity.
– Channel geometry and spacing affect airflow resistance and heat transfer area.
– The flow arrangement (cross-flow, counter-flow or parallel) determines how effectively heat is exchanged.
🛠️Engineers carefully balance these factors to maximise energy recovery while minimising pressure drop and cost
No moving parts. No extra power consumption. Just physics doing the hard work💪🏻
