Numerical optimization of a novel ceiling radiant cooling panel combined with wall attached ventilation system

The warm draft that floats from the window has an unfavorable influence on the indoor thermal comfort condition, which heated the indoor air temperature. Therefore, an integrated cooling system combined novel free-suspended ceiling radiant cooling panel (CRCP) with a wall Attached Ventilation (WAV) system is proposed and investigated by using a three-dimensional conjugated computational fluid dynamic (CFD). Two different WAV systems (ceiling inlet/ceiling outlet; ceiling inlet/floor outlet) are examined under various operating conditions. Moreover, the surface response, sensitivity analysis, and optimization of the system's operating condition are carried out via the ANSYS Design Explorer tool. In conclusion, adding the ventilation system with a ceiling inlet and ceiling outlet is more effective than installing a ceiling inlet and a floor outlet. Moreover, the operating conditions with the inlet air velocity of 0.164 m/s, inlet air temperature of 25 degrees C, and panel surface temperature of 23 degrees C are selected as the optimum design. Under this condition, the system can prevent warm draft effectively and achieve better thermal comfort using a lower ventilation flow rate, higher ventilation temperature, and higher panel surface temperatures. Thus, it also shows a significant potential of energy-saving accordingly.

Automated summary

The study proposed an integrated system combining a novel free-suspended ceiling radiant cooling panel with a wall Attached Ventilation system to improve indoor thermal comfort conditions and achieve better thermal comfort. The results showed that using a ventilation system with a ceiling inlet and ceiling outlet was more effective, and selecting specific operating conditions could achieve the optimal design.