Experimental Evaluation of Radiant Heating Ceiling Systems Based on Thermal Comfort Criteria
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- Does the low-temperature radiant heating systems have the potential to be applied in a building with a window/façade that has poor or high thermal performance? In another word, to what extent can the application of the low-temperature radiant heating ceiling system and the cool/warm window provide thermal comfort for the occupants?
- How does a type of glazing can influence the local thermal comfort criteria?
- To what extent can the ceiling surface temperature of a heating system be reduced to diminish the radiant temperature asymmetry?
- Finally, is the guidance for warm ceiling and cold vertical surface presented in ASHRAE-55 generalized for another room boundary and air conditions as well as different clothing insulation?
2. Methods
2.1. Experimental Facilities
2.2. Experimental Procedures
2.2.1. Setting the Room Surface Temperatures
- (i)
- the U-value of the window and the façade below the window were relatively low (with the U-values of 0.7 and 0.2 W/m2·K, respectively),
- (ii)
- The internal surface of the window and façade absorbed radiation from the room surfaces, particularly from the warm radiant ceiling, and
- (iii)
- The outside air temperature was between −2 °C and 11 °C, which was relatively high for this period of winter.
2.2.2. Experimental Design
2.3. Measurements
2.4. Statical Analyses
3. Experimental Results and Discussion
3.1. Thermal Sensation Analysis
3.2. Thermal Comfort Analysis
3.3. Thermal Sensation Asymmetry
4. Discussion: Analyses of Comfort Limits
5. Conclusions
- Overall, the results imply that the radiant ceiling heating system operating at low temperatures (below or equal to 38 °C) can provide about ‘neutral’ thermal sensations at the majority of body-parts at two positions (1 m and 3 m) in respect to both cool and warm windows (15.5 and 19 °C).
- The warm ceiling operating at 33 and 38 °C has about the same impact on local thermal sensation and comfort, if the building envelope follows advanced building energy-efficiency regulations.
- Application of highly insulated façade mostly influences local thermal sensation perceived by those occupants, who sit near to the façade, if the radiant ceiling system operates at relatively low temperatures. The temperature of the façade has minimum influence on local thermal sensation at relatively high ceiling surface temperatures.
- Beyond expectation, the head was perceived as the most comfortable body-part, even though the head was the closest body-part to the warm ceiling and it is the most sensitive upper extremity to the warm condition. It is in contradiction with the results presented by Fanger [5], that discomfort due to a warm head happened almost as often as discomfort due to cold feet.
- The results indicated that the PMV index does not assess the perceived thermal feeling of the occupants exposed to asymmetric radiant fields correctly.
- Finally, according to former studies done by Fanger and ASHRAE-55 [5,7], it was claimed that the criteria of 5% dissatisfied participants could presumably be applied for the overhead radiant systems. The limit of radiant temperature asymmetry corresponding to 5% dissatisfaction is 4 K. However, our experimental analyses clearly indicate that although more than 10% of participants were dissatisfied at the relatively high radiant asymmetry temperatures (7.5 K) created by the ceiling surface temperature of 33 °C, the participants can still feel “neutral” at the majority of body parts. Therefore, the radiant asymmetry temperature of 7.5 K for the dissatisfaction limit of 10% is recommended, if occupants have the winter cloth and the operative temperature is in the range that about “neutral” conditions are guaranteed.
Author Contributions
Funding
Conflicts of Interest
Appendix A
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Ceiling Temperatures (°C) | Artificial Window Temperatures (°C) | Walls’ Temperatures (°C) | Floor Temperature (°C) | Window Temperature (°C) | Exterior Wall under Window (°C) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
28, 33, 38 | 15.5, 19 | 20 | 20 | T * | T * |
TSV | TCV | ||
---|---|---|---|
Label | Value | Label | Value |
Hot | +3 | Comfortable | +3 |
Warm | +2 | Just comfortable | +2 |
Slightly warm | +1 | Just uncomfortable | +1 |
Neutral | 0 | Uncomfortable | 0 |
Slightly cool | −1 | - | - |
Cool | −2 | - | - |
Cold | −3 | - | - |
Scenarios | Scenario No. | Tair (°C) | Top (°C) | Tr (°C) | Vair (m/s) | RH (%) | PMV | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cool window | Front 1 | CT: 28 °C | S1 | 20.6 ± 0.5 | 20.6 ± 0.5 | 20.7 ± 0.5 | 0.03 ± 0.01 | 34.2 ± 3.5 | −0.7 |
CT: 33 °C | S2 | 21.2 ± 0.6 | 21.4 ± 0.8 | 21.6 ± 0.9 | 0.04 ± 0.01 | 33.9 ± 3.9 | −0.5 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S3 | 22.1 ± 0.8 | 22.2 ± 0.8 | 22.3 ± 0.7 | 0.02 ± 0.01 | 32.9 ± 3.3 | −0.3 | ||
Rear 2 | CT: 28 °C | S4 | 20.8 ± 0.5 | 21.0 ± 0.5 | 21.3 ± 0.4 | 0.06 ± 0.01 | 31.2 ± 3.2 | −0.6 | |
CT: 33 °C | S5 | 22.1 ± 0.5 | 22.4 ± 0.5 | 22.6 ± 0.6 | 0.07 ± 0.02 | 30.7 ± 3.8 | −0.3 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S6 | 22.4 ± 0.7 | 22.5 ± 0.6 | 22.5 ± 0.6 | 0.05 ± 0.01 | 31.0 ± 3.0 | −0.2 | ||
Warm window | Front 3 | CT: 28 °C | S7 | 21.2 ± 1.1 | 21.3 ± 1.1 | 21.4 ± 1.1 | 0.03 ± 0.01 | 30.1 ± 2.5 | −0.5 |
CT: 33 °C | S8 | 21.4 ± 1.1 | 21.5 ± 1.0 | 21.6 ± 1.2 | 0.04 ± 0.01 | 31.0 ± 3.8 | −0.5 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S9 | 22.2 ± 1.1 | 22.3 ± 1.4 | 22.4 ± 1.4 | 0.03 ± 0.01 | 33.2 ± 5.0 | −0.3 | ||
Rear 4 | CT: 28 °C | S10 | 21.4 ± 0.7 | 21.7 ± 0.7 | 21.9 ± 0.7 | 0.05 ± 0.01 | 27.4 ± 2.1 | −0.5 | |
CT: 33 °C | S11 | 22.2 ± 0.5 | 22.4 ± 0.5 | 22.7 ± 0.6 | 0.06 ± 0.02 | 27.8 ± 3.7 | −0.3 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S12 | 23.7 ± 0.8 | 23.3 ± 0.8 | 23.0 ± 0.8 | 0.06 ± 0.01 | 30.4 ± 2.5 | 0.0 |
Thermal Sensation (Body Parts) | Scenario Group-1 (DW: 1 m; WT: 15.5 °C) | Scenario Group-2 (DW: 3 m; WT: 15.5 °C) | Scenario Group-3 (DW: 1 m; WT: 19 °C) | Scenario Group-4 (DW: 3 m; WT: 19 °C) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | 0.003 * | 0.013 * | 0.053 | 0.004 * |
Head | 0.280 | 0.273 | 0.676 | 0.148 |
Forehead | 0.368 | 0.062 | 0.852 | 0.091 |
Back | 0.834 | 0.042 * | 0.902 | 0.247 |
Chest | 0.417 | 0.008 * | 0.459 | 0.074 |
Upper arm | 0.121 | 0.497 | 0.485 | 0.091 |
Forearm | 0.895 | 0.030 * | 0.114 | 0.065 |
Hand | 0.072 | 0.682 | 0.256 | 0.021 * |
Thigh | 0.792 | 0.417 | 0.396 | 0.009 * |
Calf | 0.353 | 0.102 | 0.192 | 0.039 * |
Foot | 0.023 * | 0.041 * | 0.401 | 0.004 * |
Ceiling Temperatures | Scenario Group-1 (DW: 1 m; WT: 15.5 °C) | Scenario Group-2 (DW: 3 m; WT: 15.5 °C) | Scenario Group-3 (DW: 1 m; WT: 19 °C) | Scenario Group-4 (DW: 3 m; WT: 19 °C) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
CT: 28 °C | CT: 33 °C | CT: 28 °C | CT: 33 °C | CT: 28 °C | CT: 33 °C | CT: 28 °C | CT: 33 °C | |
CT: 33 °C | 0.041 * | - | 0.414 | - | 0.107 | - | 0.026 * | - |
CT: 38 °C | 0.010 * | 0.084 | 0.014 * | 0.038 * | 0.031 * | 0.160 | 0.010 * | 0.414 |
Scenarios | Hand-Foot | Hand-Head | Foot-Head | Back-Chest | Left-Right | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ha | F | N | Ha | He | N | F | He | N | B | C | N | L | R | N | ||||
Cool window | Front | CT: 28 °C | S1 | 33 | 67 | 0 | 80 | 13 | 7 | 80 | 13 | 7 | 33 | 47 | 20 | 20 | 27 | 53 |
CT: 33 °C | S2 | 15 | 77 | 8 | 69 | 23 | 8 | 85 | 8 | 8 | 15 | 69 | 15 | 8 | 8 | 85 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S3 | 55 | 36 | 9 | 73 | 9 | 18 | 82 | 0 | 18 | 9 | 27 | 64 | 9 | 18 | 73 | ||
Rear | CT: 28 °C | S4 | 17 | 75 | 8 | 75 | 17 | 8 | 83 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 50 | 50 | 17 | 17 | 67 | |
CT: 33 °C | S5 | 21 | 64 | 14 | 71 | 7 | 21 | 79 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 57 | 43 | 14 | 7 | 79 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S6 | 14 | 71 | 14 | 79 | 7 | 14 | 93 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 36 | 57 | 0 | 21 | 79 | ||
Warm window | Front | CT: 28 °C | S7 | 47 | 47 | 7 | 87 | 13 | 0 | 73 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 60 | 13 | 20 | 20 | 60 |
CT: 33 °C | S8 | 36 | 64 | 0 | 79 | 14 | 7 | 86 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 71 | 14 | 7 | 21 | 71 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S9 | 27 | 45 | 27 | 73 | 0 | 27 | 73 | 0 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 73 | 9 | 18 | 73 | ||
Rear | CT: 28 °C | S10 | 25 | 58 | 17 | 75 | 17 | 8 | 92 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 42 | 50 | 0 | 25 | 75 | |
CT: 33 °C | S11 | 14 | 86 | 0 | 79 | 7 | 14 | 93 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 71 | 0 | 21 | 79 | ||
CT: 38 °C | S12 | 36 | 57 | 7 | 79 | 0 | 21 | 86 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 21 | 79 | 7 | 14 | 79 |
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Safizadeh, M.R.; Schweiker, M.; Wagner, A. Experimental Evaluation of Radiant Heating Ceiling Systems Based on Thermal Comfort Criteria. Energies 2018, 11, 2932. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11112932
Safizadeh MR, Schweiker M, Wagner A. Experimental Evaluation of Radiant Heating Ceiling Systems Based on Thermal Comfort Criteria. Energies. 2018; 11(11):2932. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11112932
Chicago/Turabian StyleSafizadeh, M. Reza, Marcel Schweiker, and Andreas Wagner. 2018. "Experimental Evaluation of Radiant Heating Ceiling Systems Based on Thermal Comfort Criteria" Energies 11, no. 11: 2932. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11112932
APA StyleSafizadeh, M. R., Schweiker, M., & Wagner, A. (2018). Experimental Evaluation of Radiant Heating Ceiling Systems Based on Thermal Comfort Criteria. Energies, 11(11), 2932. https://doi.org/10.3390/en11112932