Thermal Comfort in the Near-Zone of a Radiator Air Device

Abstract

Abstract The near-zone of an air inlet device is the most critical part of a room as regards fulfilment of the thermal conform demands. An acceptable solution for residential buildings can be to supply the outdoor air through an air device placed behind a radiator. Such a device provides a mechanical exhaust system that supplies pre-heated outdoor air. Normally radiator air devices are located below a window and a window-sill. To examine the influence of a window-sill placed above an air device, several different positions and breadths of sills were tested. Air velocities and air temperatures were measured at distances within 0.50 m from the device. The measurements show that thermal comfort is strongly dependent on the location of the window-sill in relation to the air device. The degree of turbulence intensity affects the percentage of dissatisfied people due to draught. The velocity measurement system used in this study allows variation of the time constant of the system. When different time constants were used, the measured turbulence intensity varied considerably. Some measurements were carried out with the radiator switched off. In these cases different air velocities were measured, depending on the orientation of the sensors. This seems to be due to the temperature and velocity gradients at the measuring points.