Experimental study on the dynamic thermal response of a radiant floor system in an office building

Abstract

The dynamic thermal performance of radiant terminal plays an important role in the design and control of radiant cooling system, which is shown as the dynamic thermal response of radiant floor system (RFS) under imposed control. In this paper, the field measurement method was used to study the dynamic thermal response of RFS. The RFS was activated in summer and the supply water temperature was regulated in winter to make dynamic change of thermal performance. The floor surface temperature was selected as the characteristic parameter to describe the dynamic heat transfer performance of the system, and response time τ95 and time constant τ63 were used to quantify the dynamic thermal response. The maximum τ95 was 13.5 h and τ95/τ63 was greater than or equal to 2 in the cooling mode, while τ95 and τ63 were both less than 10 h and τ95/τ63 was 1.6 in the heating mode. As a result, there was no significant lessening of temperature change rate, and the thermal response of RFS was faster under intermittent control of supply water temperature in winter. Therefore, the study aims at providing reference for making intermittent control strategy by using the dynamic thermal performance of radiant system.

Keywords

• radiant floor system
• dynamic thermal performance
• response time
• time constant