Renewable Indoor Radiant Cooling and Earth Tube Heat Exchanger Hybrid for Thermal Comfort Improvement
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: This study investigates the applicability of hydronic radiant cooling system charged with night cooled \nwater to cool down building in Sarawak particularly for low income building to a thermally acceptable \nlevel. The system uses night sky as well as the ground as a heat sink source to passively cool the \nbuilding while operating at a low energy level. Results from building energy simulation program or \nEnergy Plus shows that for a stand-alone hydronic radiant system only 77% of the time the thermal \ncondition could meet ASHRAE acceptable PMV thermal condition between -0.5 and + 0.5. Another \nsimulation of the radiant and earth tube system hybrid further improved the indoor thermal condition \nsignificantly by 100% to meet the same PMV level. The hybrid system was able to improve the \nbaseline uncomfortable operative temperature of 37ºC to 28.5ºC while meeting the average comfort \nzone upper limit for Malaysia of 30.1 ºC. Simulation on energy spent shows that as much as 94% \nenergy could be saved by using the hybrid system. This level of saving is not impossible as \nrenewable night cooled water was used to charge the indoor hydronic radiant cooling system.
Source: Journal of Building Performance
Authors: Muhammad Imran, A. Baharun, Siti Halipah Ibrahim, Wan Azlan Wan Zainal Abidin
Institutions: Ministry of Health, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Language: English
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W2467666313