Evaluation of Radiant Heating and Cooling Terminals Based on Structural Thermal Resistance

Radiant heating and cooling terminals have different structural forms that can significantly influence its heat transfer performance. However, the existing methods evaluating thermal performance of radiant terminals did not reflect the effects of the structures. This study uses the concept of average thermal resistance based on heat transfer model. Four common radiant ceilings were tested under temperature conditions of 26 °C and 21 °C through laboratory experiments. Their structural thermal resistance values were calculated. The results show that structure thermal resistance can reflect the influence of terminal structures on the heat transfer performance. The error is less than 10%, which is good enough to meet the engineering application requirements.