The influence of the thickness of an aluminium radiant sheet on the performance of the lightweight floor heating

Abstract

The aim of this work is to determine the optimal thickness of aluminium radiant sheet in the lightweight floor heating, i.e. the smallest thickness of the aluminium, ensuring high efficiency and thermal comfort. The optimal operational and construction parameters are determined regards to the aluminium thickness. Finding the optimal aluminium thickness is important for economic and ecological reasons: less aluminium thickness, less aluminium consumption and less cost of construction. Numerical calculations were performed with ANSYS Steady-State Thermal Solver (Workbench 19.2) for floor heating with a dry screed, wood-like board and pipes embedded in the layer of tile adhesive. The influence of aluminium thickness changes in the range of 0.1–0.5 mm was analysed for variable water temperature, pipe spacing and constructions. The optimal aluminium radiant sheet thickness is 0.3 mm, 0.1 mm is not recommended. The optimal water temperature is 25–35 °C, 45 °C is not recommended. Constructions with a dry screed 25 mm thick should not be used. Constructions with pipes in tile adhesive should be used at a water temperature of 25–30 °C and an aluminium thickness of 0.3–0.5 mm. Constructions with wood-like board should be used at a water temperature of 25–35 °C and an aluminium of 0.3–0.4 mm. Results enable a conscious choice of such constructions and operational parameters of lightweight floor heating that ensure high efficiency, thermal comfort and low investment costs. The work includes the original specification of the lightweight floor heating efficiency depending on the radiant sheet thickness and specifies recommended radiant sheet thicknesses.