Numerical Analysis on the Performance of a Radiant Cooling Panel with Serpentine-Based Design

Mohammad Hakim Mohd Radzai, Chong Tak Yaw, Chin Wai Lim, Siaw Paw Koh and Nur Amirani Ahmad
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Mohammad Hakim Mohd Radzai: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Chong Tak Yaw: Institute of Sustainable Energy, University Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Chin Wai Lim: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Siaw Paw Koh: Institute of Sustainable Energy, University Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia
Nur Amirani Ahmad: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University Tenaga Nasional, Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, Kajang 43000, Selangor, Malaysia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 16, 1-20

Abstract: Radiant cooling systems (RCS) are gaining acceptance as a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) solution for achieving adequate thermal comfort and maintaining acceptable indoor air quality inside buildings. RCS are well known for their energy-saving potential; however, serious condensation problem hinders the growth of this technology. In order to prevent the risk of condensation, the supply water temperature is kept higher than the dew point temperature of the air inside the room. The full potential of the cooling power of a radiant cooling panel is limited. Therefore, this article is on maximizing the cooling capacity of a radiant cooling panel, in terms of flow configuration. Radiant cooling panels (RCP) with different chilled water pipe configurations are designed and compared, side by side with the conventional serpentine flow configuration. The cooling performance of the radiant cooling panels is evaluated by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with Ansys Fluent software (Ansys 2020 R2, PA, USA). Under similar flow and operating conditions, the common serpentine flow configuration exhibits the least effective cooling performance, with the highest pressure drop across the pipe. It is concluded that the proposed designs have the potential of improving the overall efficiency of RCP in terms of temperature distribution, cooling capacity, and pressure drop.

Keywords: ansys fluent; cooling capacity; computational fluid dynamics; radiant cooling system; serpentine flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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