Impact of the Position of a Radiator to Energy Consumption and Thermal Comfort in a Mixed Radiant and Convective Heating System

This paper studies the energy consumption and thermal comfort distribution in a typical office with a mixed radiant and convective heating system for two different locations of radiant heat sources. Accurately estimating the energy consumption in a mixed heating space requires careful consideration of the energy balance on each room surface and the comfort level in the space. A radiant heating system heats the room surfaces first; then the warm surfaces heat room air. The higher surface temperatures will increase the heat loss from the enclosure to the ambient environment for a fixed air temperature. On the other hand, a radiant heating system creates a higher mean radiant temperature in the space. By keeping the same operative temperature as used with a convective heating system, this system can have a lower room air temperature, which usually reduces the energy to heat infiltrating air or ventilation air, and reduces the convective heat transfer between the room air and enclosure surfaces during the heating season. The reduced room air temperature has the potential to reduce the heat loss from the enclosure to ambient environment. This paper compares the energy consumption and comfort level as measured by uniformity of operative temperature for two different layouts of radiators in the same geometric space. It is found that when radiators are close to the window, it may increase heating consumption up to 3.2% compared to 100% convective heating in an underventilated space. In a properly ventilated space, radiant heating can save up to 8% of the heating consumption depending on location of the radiator(s) and the outside air supply rate for the cases simulated. Comfort analysis shows that locating the radiator near the window can improve the comfort level in a space.