Radiant wall cooling with pipes arranged in insulation panels attached to facades of existing buildings

Abstract

Radiant systems are being increasingly used for space heating and cooling of buildings. The contemporary research of radiant systems addresses mainly floor and ceiling structures. Research regarding the possibilities of their incorporation in wall structures is lacking, despite their potential advantages. This study addresses a radiant wall system manufactured according to a patent. The patented design involves panels that consist of pipes arranged in milled channels in thermal insulation. The potential advantage of this system is the fact that the thermally active panels can be attached to the facades of existing buildings as a part of their retrofit. Thereby, only minor interventions on the interior side of the retrofitted buildings are needed. To test and improve the design of the wall system, laboratory measurements and computer simulations were performed on a wall fragment for its operation under summer conditions. The results indicate a significant potential for improvement of the patented design by addressing the imperfections in the contact between pipe and wall. Inserting a metal fin between pipe and wall enhanced the cool distribution within the wall fragment considerably. From the three materials of the metal fin considered, using copper led to highest values of the cooling output, followed by aluminium. For these two metals the effect of increasing the thickness of the fin on the cooling output was small. On the contrary, the fin made of steel was the least efficient in terms of cool distribution. In this case the cooling output was most sensitive to the thickness of the fin.