Performance evaluation of radiant cooling system integrated with air system under different operational strategies

Journal Article · Thu Mar 26 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Energy and Buildings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2015.03.030· OSTI ID:1185702

Khan, Yasin ^[1]; Khare, Vaibhav Rai ^[1]; Mathur, Jyotirmay ^[1]; Bhandari, Mahabir ^[2]

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1. Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT), Jaipur (India)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

The paper describes a parametric study developed to estimate the energy savings potential of a radiant cooling system installed in a commercial building in India. The study is based on numerical modeling of a radiant cooling system installed in an Information Technology (IT) office building sited in the composite climate of Hyderabad. To evaluate thermal performance and energy consumption, simulations were carried out using the ANSYS FLUENT and EnergyPlus softwares, respectively. The building model was calibrated using the measured data for the installed radiant system. Then this calibrated model was used to simulate the energy consumption of a building using a conventional all-air system to determine the proportional energy savings. For proper handling of the latent load, a dedicated outside air system (DOAS) was used as an alternative to Fan Coil Unit (FCU). A comparison of energy consumption calculated that the radiant system was 17.5 % more efficient than a conventional all-air system and that a 30% savings was achieved by using a DOAS system compared with a conventional system. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation was performed to evaluate indoor air quality and thermal comfort. It was found that a radiant system offers more uniform temperatures, as well as a better mean air temperature range, than a conventional system. To further enhance the energy savings in the radiant system, different operational strategies were analyzed based on thermal analysis using EnergyPlus. Lastly, the energy savings achieved in this parametric run were more than 10% compared with a conventional all-air system.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC05-00OR22725; BT0201000
• OSTI ID: 1185702
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1250087
• Journal Information: Energy and Buildings, Vol. 97, Issue C; ISSN 0378-7788
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
radiant cooling system
building energy simulation
energy saving
EnergyPlus
HVAC
CFD