A study for evaluating performance of radiant floor cooling integrated with controlled ventilation

Leigh, S.B.; Song, D.S.; Hwang, S.H.; Lee, S.Y.
February 2005

ASHRAE Transactions, vol 111-1, p. 71-82

This study aims at developing a radiant floor cooling system using the existing Ondol (radiant floor heating system). It was found that the proposed system could provide cooling for thermal comfort with higher energy efficiency. However, problems still exist due to the condensation on the floor surface while the radiant floor cooling system is in operation. To solve this problem, radiant floor cooling integrated with controlled ventilation was proposed as an alternative approach. The ventilator brings fresh outside air to meet the minimum requirement for indoor air quality and a dew-point sensor activates dehumidification by means of cooling coils in the ventilator. To evaluate the performance of the proposed system, both a physical experiment in a laboratory setting and computer simulation have been conducted. The results show that radiant floor cooling integrated with a ventilation system properly maintains the indoor setpoint temperatures as well as preventing condensation on the floor surface. Also, radiant floor cooling integrated with ventilation provides cooling with only one-third of the energy required by the conventional packaged air-conditioning system based on TRNSYS simulation.

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