Heat recovery units for painting facilities: what they’re used for

Heat recovery units (HRU) are technological recovery systems of a static type; without any moving elements, for example.

By recovering heat that would otherwise be wasted, users can realize a considerable savings on operating costs in painting facilities, with efficiency generally varying from 40% to 70%.

How a USI Italia heat recovery unit is made

USI Italia HRUs are cross-flow aluminium plate heat exchangers enclosed in a special casing positioned upstream from the heating system.

HRUs allow heat to be transferred by combining incoming and outgoing airflows due to a temperature difference (convection) while maintaining complete separation.

Efficiency of USI Italia’s HRUs

USI Italia heat recovery units have an efficiency rating that complies with the 2016 and 2018 European Eco Design Directive and the spacing between the plates has been specifically proportioned to utilize the full potential of our ventilation systems and ensure low pressure drops.

The advantages of using of USI Italia plate HRUs can be summarized as follows:

High efficiency guaranteed
Immediate reduction of energy consumption
Easy adaptability
Quickly amortizable installation costs
Easy cleaning and minimum maintenance thanks to a special “GLIDE IN” design for quick removal/insertion of exchanger packs
Effectiveness in terms of noise mitigation

HRU USI Italia: customizations

USI Italia HRUs can be supplied with casings suspended on support legs (which can also be installed at a later date) or already integrated in the thermo-ventilating unit.

They can be equipped with bypass dampers, thus excluding all external air from the recovery processes.

This method is especially useful in summer to benefit from free-cooling (or direct-cooling), i.e., situations in which the outside air has certain temperature conditions that can be used directly to heat or cool the painting system, without the need for any additional adjustments.

Combinations with other USI Italia products

USI Italia HRUs represent the ideal solution to be combined with booths, cargo or preparation zones, i.e., in all plants or countries where it’s convenient (due to productivity issues or environmental temperatures) to optimize energy consumption.

Combinations with ADD-ON

The energy expenditure generated by Air Handling Units (AHUs) makes HRU the best ally to consider as a combination where the goal is to drastically reduce the overall energy consumption of these systems.