Numerical Simulation of Thermal Comfort Degree in Radiant Floor Cooling Room

As a comfortable and energy-efficient air conditioning system, the application of radiant floor heating system is increasing greatly used in the north of China. Now, more and more people begin to be aware of the problem of thermal comfort degree in radiant floor cooling room. This study aims at developing a radiant floor cooling system using the existing radiant floor heating system. Unlike an all-air cooling system, the radiant floor cooling system could remove the cooling by convection and radiation. To analyze the performance of a floor cooling system, simulation of convection and radiation was used. The thermal environment of the model office space was analyzed using CFD method. Two typical air distribution forms (hybrid air cooling system composed of radiant floor cooling and displacement ventilation and all-air system) was simulated. Installing two human models in the office, the characteristics of heat transportation from the human model were also analyzed. The analysis deals with only sensible heat in this study. The simulated results showed that the operative temperature in the radiant floor cooling system was lower than in the all-air cooling system when each of the sensible cooling loads of the two types of HVAC system was the same. In conclusion, two air distribution forms can meet the demand of comfortable degree of occupants and the effect of radiant floor cooling system.1