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Executive Summary
The project being undertaken is sponsored by Eberhardt Engineering and is utilizing the current and pending patents and designs held by Mr. Eberhardt on a fireplace heat exchanger. The main objective of this system is to efficiently convert the energy from the flue gases produced during the combustion of the natural gas to the room air. Our main goal of the project is to build the current design, test the efficiency, and propose modifications which would maximize the efficiency and minimize the cost of the unit.
Three main designs were considered when starting this project and narrowed down to the design of a continuous ducting heat exchanger. This was found to give the overall best results from the different designs when the calculations were conducted. It was found through the theoretical analysis that it if a natural draft was desired, an exiting room air temperature of 110°F was not feasible and the length of the heat exchanger would be limited just over 6.5 ft. This length was not acceptable because it did not maximize the space in the heat exchanger so the overall length was increased to 12 ft and therefore a draft must now be induced.
The heat exchanger must first be built and the goal is to use as much prefabricated material as possible help speed up the manufacturing process. The main steps in this process will be creating the flue gas turning boxes, adding the duct work to the assembly, and then ensuring proper exhaust and sealing of the system.
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