A computational model of an air-layer radiant cooling panel for optimizing and design

Abstract

Radiant cooling systems have become a research hotspot in recent years. The air-layer radiant cooling panel always had good performance, but there is relatively little research on it. This paper aims to optimize an air-layer radiant cooling panel by establishing a computational model and analyzing its accuracy through experiments. Through the computational model, the effects of surface emissivity, the thickness of the air layer and high thermal resistance material, pipe spacing on the heat transfer performance of the air-layer radiating cooling panel, and the corresponding optimizations have been studied in this paper. Based on the results, it is recommended that a pipe spacing of between 0.1 m and 0.25 m can achieve higher cooling capacity and lower initial costs. The thinner the thickness of the air layer and decorative layer, the better the heat transfer performance. High emissivity materials need to be used on the surface of the air-layer radiant cooling panel to enhance radiant heat transfer. In the process of analyzing the spacing between pipes, a method for calculating the large temperature difference of the fluid has been added, which can help us estimate the cooling capacity in practical engineering, balance initial costs and cooling capacity, and better meet cooling needs.