Thermal systems for indoor pools utilizing heat recovery from exhaust air

The number of indoor swimming pools has increased rapidly in the last decade due to the growing demand of sport activities by the society, looking for healthy lifestyle habits. Following this growing demand, most of the Spanish cities are promoting the construction of sports centres, where all kinds of sports are practiced, including swimming. The energy efficiency index (ODEX) in Spain has recorded a turning point in 2004 matching with the implementation of the Spanish Strategy of Energy Saving and Efficiency, which implicates more severe requirements in energy efficiency. The remarkable development of renewable energy in recent decades, has led Spain to include a requirement of minimum solar contribution in order to heat the pool water. Solar thermal energy has undoubtedly a huge future, but need to find new applications to make it more attractive for both the end user and engineering companies. In Spain many system and facilities designed nowadays do not aim to save energy and preserve the environment, they are planned to meet the terms imposed by the new Technical Building Code. This code is applied to new buildings and rehabilitation of existing buildings for any use where there is a demand for hot water or air conditioning in indoor pools. Along this document, a complete system to heat the pool water and condition the air in a pool enclosure in Spain will be designed. A chiller with a heat recovery system and a system that dehumidify the air from the pool with the option of recovering energy for heating purposes will be used instead a solar system as the Spanish regulations require and it will be shown that the energy input obtained from these systems is higher than the one obtained through solar panels