Evaluation of cooling ceiling and mechanical ventilation systems on thermal comfort using CFD study in an office for subtropical region

Abstract Radiant cooling ceiling systems have already been proven to potentially provide an improved thermal comfort environment. This work conducted a full-scale experiment in an office, and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation study for a radiant cooling ceiling system integrated with air dehumidification equipment installed in this test space. The obtained results from the experiment were compared with the values from the CFD simulation to validate the accuracy of the model. Predicted mean vote (PMV) index was used to assess the original indoor thermal condition and improved conditions according to the simulation results. Experimental variables included supply air temperature from the diffuser, surface temperature, and the area of the cooling panels. In addition, diffuser position in the mechanical ventilation system was analyzed that provided suggestions on improving the design of radiant cooling ceiling panels. This study proposed solutions alongside limitations on improving indoor thermal comfort and energy efficiency using a radiant cooling ceiling system in the subtropical regions of Taiwan.

[1]  Shinsuke Kato,et al.  Study on indoor thermal environment of office space controlled by cooling panel system using field measurement and the numerical simulation , 2005 .

[2]  Anastasios I. Stamou,et al.  Evaluation of thermal comfort in galatsi arena of the olympics ?Athens 2004? using a CFD model , 2008 .

[3]  Xiaoshu Lü,et al.  Estimation of indoor moisture generation rate from measurement in buildings , 2003 .

[4]  Håkan Nilsson,et al.  Thermal comfort evaluation with virtual manikin methods , 2007 .

[5]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Two-step optimal design method using genetic algorithms and CFD-coupled simulation for indoor thermal environments , 2007 .

[6]  Giovanni Vincenzo Fracastoro,et al.  Experimental and numerical analysis of air and radiant cooling systems in offices , 2009 .

[7]  Mglc Marcel Loomans,et al.  The measurement and simulation of indoor air flow , 1998 .

[8]  Theodore F. Smith,et al.  Air flow characteristics of a room with square cone diffusers , 2005 .

[9]  K. F. Fong,et al.  Comparison of performances of displacement and mixing ventilations. Part I: thermal comfort , 2005 .

[10]  Jianlei Niu,et al.  Indoor humidity behaviors associated with decoupled cooling in hot and humid climates , 2003 .

[11]  B. Olesen,et al.  Experimental evaluation of heat transfer coefficients between radiant ceiling and room , 2009 .

[12]  Shuzo Murakami,et al.  Study on cross-ventilation with radiational panel cooling for hot and humid regions , 2002 .

[13]  Guohui Gan,et al.  NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF LOCAL THERMAL DISCOMFORT IN OFFICES WITH DISPLACEMENT VENTILATION , 1995 .

[14]  C. Ghiaus,et al.  Natural ventilation in the urban environment : assessment and design , 2005 .

[15]  B. Launder,et al.  The numerical computation of turbulent flows , 1990 .

[16]  R. Kosonen,et al.  Cool ceiling system : a European air-conditioning alternative , 1992 .

[17]  Anastasios I. Stamou,et al.  Verification of a CFD model for indoor airflow and heat transfer , 2006 .

[18]  Dennis L. Loveday,et al.  Displacement ventilation environments with chilled ceilings: thermal comfort design within the context of the BS EN ISO7730 versus adaptive debate , 2002 .

[19]  P. O. Fanger,et al.  Thermal comfort: analysis and applications in environmental engineering, , 1972 .

[20]  Nyuk Hien Wong,et al.  Thermal comfort in classrooms in the tropics , 2003 .

[21]  Joseph Virgone,et al.  Evaluation of thermal comfort using combined CFD and experimentation study in a test room equipped with a cooling ceiling , 2009 .

[22]  Martin Behne,et al.  Indoor air quality in rooms with cooled ceilings.: Mixing ventilation or rather displacement ventilation? , 1999 .

[23]  Chandra Sekhar,et al.  Thermal comfort evaluation of naturally ventilated public housing in Singapore , 2002 .

[24]  Katsunori Nagano,et al.  Experiments on thermal environmental design of ceiling radiant cooling for supine human subjects , 2004 .