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

¹ School of Thermal Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan 250101, China
² Built Environment Design and Research Institute, Shandong GRAD Group Co. Ltd., Dezhou 253000, China
³ Building Energy Conservation Research Institute, Shandong Antaeus Intelligent and Engineering Co. Ltd., Jinan 250101, China

^* Corresponding author: jxl83@sdjzu.edu.cn (Jiying Liu)

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.