Ceiling radiant cooling panel (CRCP) systems are gaining popularity due to the high thermal comfort, energy efficiency and the integration with architectural design. However, the practical application of the system has been limited due to the insufficient cooling capacity or condensation risks under hot and humid conditions. In this context, this study was conducted to improve the cooling performance of ceiling radiant cooling panel (CRCP) system by utilizing the natural convection through openings in the cooling panels and by promoting the forced convection using air circulation devices.
For this purpose, a test-bed equipped with CRCPs was constructed to evaluate the cooling capacity and indoor environment when applying the open-type installation and air circulation devices such as air circulator and box fan.
Preliminary experiments were conducted to examine the feasibility of the evaluation through the test-bed. In the evaluation period, the standard deviations of supply water temperature and cooling capacity were 0.05℃ and 2.74%, respectively, which can be considered as acceptable level for the evaluation under the steady-state condition.
The result of the test-bed experiment showed that the cooling capacity of the cooling panels increased by up to 25% and the room temperature reduced by up to 4.29℃, depending on the CRCP installation type and the arrangement of air circulation devices.
It was also found that the cooling performance can be more improved by placing the air circulation devices in the plenum space rather than in the conditioned space. In addition, to distribute the small air flow in wider area was found to be more beneficial than to apply large air flow to the limited area.
This study suggests the method for improvement of cooling performance utilizing the recirculation of indoor room air. As the CRCP system is usually combined with the outdoor air system for handling ventilation and latent load, further studies are necessary to utilize outdoor air for the cooling performance improvement of the CRCP system.