On the optimisation of age of the air in the breathing zone of floor heating systems:The role of ventilation design

For a mechanically ventilated space,the nominal age of the air can be obtained by the reciprocal of the air change rate.However,values of the local mean age of the air in practice may differ to some extent from the nominal one since the nominal time constant employs as reference the theoretical optimum model.This discrepancy could become more prominent in spaces conditioning with both ventilation and heating system where the indoor air pattern is affected by turbulent mixed convection flow.Given importance of knowledge on the distribution of age of the air in these spaces,the present study provides insights on how ventilation design in floor heating systems can optimise the delivery of fresh air into the breathing zone.In this context,by establishing a computational fluid dynamic(CFD)model validated against experimental data,the local mean age of the air as well as the indoor air quality(IAQ)indices in the breathing zone of the floor heating system are examined under different ventilation modes.Six different ventilation scenarios are regarded in order to find the optimal ventilation design in terms of the delivery of the fresh air and ventilation effectiveness in occupied space.Furthermore,the integrated effects of the floor temperature and inlet supply temperature along with the ventilation design on the distribution of local age of the air are addressed.The obtained results indicate that the up-supply ventilation strategy is more efficient than down-supply one in the ventilation effectiveness and delivery of fresh air into the breathing zone.Moreover,it is shown that the mean age of the air in the breathing zone of the up-supply ventilation increases with increment of the Ri(Richardson number),whereas an increase in Ri improves the delivery of fresh air in down-supply mode.For a given floor temperature,the similar trend is also observed in the variation of age of the air with the characteristic temperature of supply inlet,namely the temperature difference between inlet supply and surrounding walls.

Evaluation of the thermal performance of radiant floor heating system with the influence of unevenly distributed solar radiation based on the theory of discretization

In the building with many transparent envelopes,solar radiation can irradiate on the local surface of floor and cause overheating.The local thermal comfort in the room will be dissatisfactory and the thermal performance of radiant floor will be strongly affected.However,in many current calculation models,solar radiation on the floor surface is assumed to be uniformly distributed,resulting in the inaccurate evaluation of the thermal performance of the radiant floor.In this paper,a calculation model based on the theory of discretization and the RC thermal network is proposed to calculate the dynamic thermal performance of radiant floor with the consideration of unevenly distributed solar radiation.Then,the discretization model is experimentally validated and is used to simulate a radiant floor heating system of an office room in Lhasa.It is found that with the unevenly distributed solar radiation,the maximum surface temperature near the south exterior window can reach up to 35.6℃,which exceeds the comfort temperature limit and is nearly 8.5℃higher than that in the north zone.Meanwhile,the heating capacity of the radiant floor in the irradiated zone can reach up to 171 W/m^(2),while that in the shaded zone is only 79 W/m^(2).The model with the assumption of uniformly distributed solar radiation ignores the differences between the south and north zones and fails to describe local overheating in the irradiated zones.By contrast,the discretization model can more accurately evaluate the thermal performance of radiant floor with the influence of real solar radiation.Based on this discretization model,novel design and control schemes of radiant floor heating system can be proposed to alleviate local overheating and reduce heating capacity in the irradiated zone.

Performance simulation and optimization of new radiant floor heating based on micro heat pipe array

This paper proposes two new radiant floor heating structures based on micro heat pipe array(MHPA),namely cement-tile floor and keel-wood floor.The numerical models for these different floor structures are established and verified by experiments.The temperature distribution and heat transfer process of each part are comprehensively obtained,and the structure is optimized.The results show that the cement-tile floor has the better heat transfer performance of the two.When under the same inlet water temperature and flow rate,the keel-wood floor's surface temperature distribution is about 2℃ lower than that of the cement-tile floor.The inlet water temperature of cement-tile floor is about 10℃ lower than that of keel-wood structure when the floor surface temperature is the same.During a longitudinal heat transfer above MHPA,the floor surface temperature decreases by 0.5℃ for every 10 mm filling layer increase.In order to reduce the non-uniformity of the floor's surface temperature and improve the thermal comfort of the heated room,the optimal structure for a floor is given,with the maximum surface temperature difference reduced by 3.35℃.We used research focusing on new radiant floor heating,with advantages including high efficiency heat transfer,low water supply temperature,simple waterway structure,low resistance and leakage risk,to provide theory and data to support the application of an effective radiant floor heating based on MHPA.

Operating characteristic analysis on the ultra-thin low temperature floor-heating system

Prefabricated ultra-thin radiant heating panel,as a new heating terminal type,is becoming a highlight in Yangtze River Valley area,China recently.However,there is a lack of operating characteristic research in this region,especially the energy consumption and operating mode are even less.To obtain these data,a heating system was set up in a duplex house in Chongqing.The test results show that the floor heating system could almost satisfy thermal comfort requirement at supply water temperature 45°C.But the preheating time was up to 4.5 h which was 1 h longer than that at supply water temperature 50°C.Meanwhile,the energy consumption at supply water temperature 50°C increased 0.10 Nm3/h,and the operating efficiency decrease about 2.6%compared to those at water temperature 45°C.Considering both the thermal lag and operating efficiency,a reasonable suggestion was proposed in this paper.That was,the standard families which just stay home at night should adopt the interim mode of partial room with part time.And the supply water temperature should be properly raised during the preheating period and lowered down in the steady heating stage.

Evaluation of Energy Efficiency Performance of Heated Windows

Fenestration systems are widely used across the world.There is expansive research on window configurations,frames,and glazing technology,but not enough research has been published on reducing window heat loss through heat application to a pane.The presented study attempted to evaluate the performance of heated windows by developing an experimental setup to test a window at various temperatures by varying the power input to thewindow.Heated double pane window was installed in an insulated box.Atemperature gradient was developed across the window by cooling one side of the window using gel-based ice packs.The other face of the window was heated by enabling power at different wattages through the window.The temperature of the inside and outside panes,current and voltage input,and temperature of the room and box were recorded.The data was used to calculate the apparent effective resistance of the window when not being heated vs.when being heated.The study concluded that,when window temperature was maintained close to the room temperature,the heated double pane window is effective in reducing heat loss by as much as 50%as compared to a non-heated double pane window.When temperature of the window was much higher than the room temperature,the heat loss through the window increased beyond that of a non-heated window.The issues encountered during the current stages of experiments are noted,and recommendations are provided for future studies.