Experimental study on the cooling capacity of a radiant cooled ceiling system

Nowadays, radiant ceiling systems can be considered among the technologies capable of meeting sustainable heating and cooling requirements. In order to adequately address design and simulation issues concerning these systems, correct evaluation of the heat transfer process is needed. The aim of this research is to present further evidence on the cooling capacity and heat transfer coefficients for a cooled radiant ceiling, assuring adequate thermal comfort levels in those possible different operation conditions. An experimental setup into a climate test room was developed and used to derive convenient results. The obtained values revealed that heat transfer evaluations on the basis of operative temperature as the unique reference temperature and corresponding total coefficient are not appropriate in real situations, but considering radiant and convective phenomena separately is strongly recommended. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.