Ultra-Compact Energy Recovery for Anywhere Space Is at a Premium
When SolutionAir launched the RegenCore alternating mass-exchanger energy-recovery unit in 2019, the unit rocked the industry, delivering up to 92% effectiveness and no preheat requirement down to outdoor temperatures of −40°C/F. Its energy-recovery cores and four-damper design maximized energy conservation and minimized leakage, but combining the components meant RegenCore needed to be either mounted on a roof or concrete pad outdoors or installed in large mechanical rooms indoors.
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| The RegenCore alternating mass-exchanger energy-recovery unit from SolutionAir |
Since it was modeled after standard rooftop equipment, RegenCore was best suited for builds and retrofits with enough space to accommodate it. But following the events of 2020, many owners of older buildings with limited space began looking for ways to upgrade their aging HVAC systems.
Unlike with new builds, retrofits are often limited by the physical makeup of the building. In these cases, the all-in-one construction that initially made RegenCore such an attractive option began preventing it from competing with smaller, more configurable systems.
“We saw a competitor getting a lot of specs for a very similar unit,” says Corey Nation, Sales Engineer at E.H. Price. “The pricing was less, the efficiency was there and it had a lot more flexibility, so we pushed [the SolutionAir team] to jump on this one.”
Driven by market demands, SolutionAir challenged itself to reimagine RegenCore as a decentralized, fully configurable unit that matched the industry-leading energy retention of its predecessor. This vision led them to design RegenCore Flex, the latest offering from SolutionAir and the next generation in the RegenCore product line.
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| RegenCore Flex can be mounted in any direction and is ideal for compact applications |
Innovation is at the very heart of SolutionAir’s product development ethos. The fundamental operations underlying RegenCore’s performance data had been thoroughly researched and tested in SolutionAir’s on-site environmental chamber; it was only a matter of time before the engineering team found a path forward.
The first and most important change came in separating the two energy-retention cores from the central damper section. These arms, which give the unit its distinctive silhouette, are field installed according to each site’s layout, allowing RegenCore Flex to easily conform to any configuration or orientation that a space requires.
Second, the central damper section and its four-damper design were also made independent so it too could be installed vertically, horizontally and even upside down as the space demands. The central damper section was also made more compact, enabling installation in spaces as tight as a ceiling or crawl space.
Finally, the weight of the unit was greatly reduced, thanks in part to the segregated design, which supplants the need for cabinetry. Taken together, these changes have made RegenCore Flex the ideal indoor energy-recovery solution wherever space is at a premium.
| Watch the video to see how the innovative RegenCore Flex works |
RegenCore Flex is fully tested and ready to ship – find out more by visiting www.solutionairgroup.com.
