Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23

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Building and Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/buildenv

Experimental investigation on the heat transfer performance and

water condensation phenomenon of radiant cooling panels
Y.L. Yin, R.Z. Wang*, X.Q. Zhai, T.F. Ishugah
Institute of Refrigeration and Cryogenics, Key Laboratory for Power Machinery and Engineering of M.O.E, Shanghai Jiao Tong University,
Shanghai 200240, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Radiant cooling system is a promising technique, which is suitable for independent control processes of
Received 31 May 2013 temperature and humidity. The two main benefits of radiant cooling systems include the potential to
Received in revised form save energy and improvement of indoor thermal comfort. However, both the poor heat transfer per-
22 September 2013
formance and condensation below dew point temperature restrict the widespread utilization in the
Accepted 25 September 2013
residential buildings especially in humid environment. This research was focused on comprehending
detailed performance of the radiant cooling panel when it used as an air conditioning system. Three
Keywords:
radiant cooling panels with the area of 0.16 m2 were prepared for investigation and a constant tem-
Radiant cooling
Moisture condensation
perature and humidity environment chamber employed to simulate the different indoor thermal en-
Control strategy vironments. The heat transfer performance and moisture condensation phenomenon of the radiant
Thermal comfort cooling panels were investigated. The results showed that the flow state of chilled water had the
biggest influence on the heat transfer performance of the radiant cooling panels. The temperature
difference between chilled water and the ambient was also observed to significantly affect the per-
formance. Condensation of moisture on the radiant cooling panels was noted to increase the heat
transfer quantity, but posed a challenge in using of the radiant cooling panel. Taking the performance of
heat transfer and moisture condensation into consideration, the gypsum radiant cooling panel showed
the best performance as compared to the metal radiant cooling panel and pure tube panel. The radiant
cooling panels can work more efficiently especially when proper control strategies are employed to
avoid condensation.
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction offers flexible possibilities to incorporate renewable energy sources

Cooling and heating systems in buildings consumes vast quan-
tities of energy to provide acceptable standards of thermal comfort.
With increased use of conventional energy sources in buildings, the
world is now facing a great challenge to cut down on environ-
mental pollution. Many researchers are now working on different
projects to find out the best solutions to these challenges. Currently,
more and more attention has been directed to radiant cooling/
heating systems because they have been proven to be potentially
more energy efficient than conventional air conditioning systems
[1,2] and can provide improved thermal comfort environment [3,4].
In addition, previous research shows that radiant cooling/heating
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 21 34206548.
E-mail address: rzwang@sjtu.edu.cn (R.Z. Wang).
in driving the system as well as integration with other systems to
provide required thermal comfort [5]. Although substantial work
has been and is still being done towards full realization of these
benefits, more work needs to be done to optimize heat transfer and
fully avoid or minimize the water condensation challenges espe-
cially in humid conditions.
Despite the facts that several researchers have developed
models to solve some problems related to the correct design of the
radiant cooling/heating systems [6], some uncertainties still remain
especially as it regards to thermal behavior under hot and humid
environment. Ren et al. [7] established a three dimensional model
to investigate the heat transfer of radiant cooling/heating system
and its suitability to employ renewable energy sources for heating
and cooling. The analysis revealed that a supply of warm water
temperature of 22
C in winter and chilled water temperature of
17
C in summer can meet the standard indoor heating and cooling
requirements, respectively. Eusebio et al. [8] compared the comfort

0360-1323/$ e see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2013.09.016
16 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23

level of the ceiling cooling system, the floor cooling system and the
wall cooling system, which were the three usual radiant cooling
types. The results showed that the ceiling cooling provided better
comfort levels than radiant wall cooling. The results further showed
that the indoor thermal comfort level were even higher when the
radiant ceiling cooling and radiant floor cooling operated together
with radiant wall cooling system. Chiang et al. did an extensive
computational fluid dynamics (CFD) studies based on an experi-
mental radiant cooling ceiling system integrated with a mechanical
ventilation system in a typical office and validated typical condi-
tions by comparing the results to the field measured data in the
actual room. The results showed that installation of a radiant
cooling ceiling system integrated with a mechanical ventilation
system in hot and humid re could affect or complement each other.
Memon et al. [9] carried out both field assessment survey and
TRNSYS simulation to study the performance of the radiant cooling
system. The survey showed that more than 80% of occupants were
satisfied at an effective temperature of 32.5
C, which is 6.5
C
higher than the upper boundary of ASHRAE thermal comfort zone.
It was also estimated that up to 80% of energy can be saved when
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the radiant cooling system.
radiant cooling is used to substitute conventional air conditioning
systems to achieve indoor thermal comfort. Furthermore, radiant
cooling was considered to improve thermal comfort level owing to
a lower temperature gradient, inside the room, as compared with system was able to prevent the condensation of moisture on the
the traditional all-air system. Tian and Love [10] reported that the floor surface. Beside, responsiveness of the control system for in-
main advantage of radiant cooling was found to be reduced local door load changing was improved.
thermal discomfort with reduced vertical air temperature differ- Based on previous research done, heat transfer between radiant
ence as well as reduced draft rate. Catalina et al. [11] reported a full- panel and the ambient, as well as condensation on the radiant
scale experiment and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study panels have been reported as crucial aspects affecting radiant
of a radiant cooling ceiling system to analyze factors that influence cooling systems. This paper focuses on the parameters influencing
indoor thermal environment, i.e. air temperature, surface temper- heat transfer performance of the radiant cooling system. It also
ature and global temperature. The results obtained showed that analyses the moisture condensation on radiant cooling panel has
within the ankle/feet zone the air velocity could exceed 0.2 m/s, also been analyzed. In addition, analytical interactions between
with the remaining zones having air velocity of not more than heat transfer and condensation effects have been outlined. In this
0.1 m/s. Their research work showed the consistent results of high research, standard temperature and humidity of 26
C and 60% RH,
indoor thermal comfort level due to lower vertical temperature respectively were widely chosen due to the application condition of
gradient. the radiant cooling system.
Renewable and low-grade energy can be employed in radiant
cooling systems to improve the energy efficiency. Cooling could be
more efficient with independent temperature and humidity con-
trol [12]. However, for the radiant cooling system the main chal-
lenge is insufficient dehumidification capacity. For this reason, a
radiant cooling system always works together with a fresh air
system to meet the latent load and even part of sensible load
[4,13,14]. Sui and Zhang [15] reported that the energy consumption
of such a hybrid system decreased when the sensible load handled
by the radiant terminal increased. To prevent the condensation of
moisture on a radiant surface, the surface temperature of a radiant
panel needs to be higher than the indoor dew point temperature.
Based on this, the surface temperature of the radiant panel should
be considered as a significant factor for the stability of the system.
Ge et al. [16] indicated that the pre-dehumidification time is
critical to prevent condensation on the radiant cooling surface.
Three neural network models were established to predict the risk
of condensation and the optimal pre-dehumidification time in
radiant cooling system. The program gave the value of 30 min as
an optimal pre-dehumidification time for the simulated building
in Hong Kong. Shou and He [17] used the index of “dehumidifi-
cation capacity per unit mass of fresh air” to determine suitability
of a building to use radiant cooling system. It was shown that
when a fresh air system was employed to handle all latent cooling
loads, a radiant cooling system could be used in public buildings,
such as meeting rooms, markets and offices. Song et al. [18] pro-
posed a radiant floor cooling system assisted by dehumidifying
ventilation. The simulation results showed that the proposed Fig. 2. Experimental system.
 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23 17

Table 1 the constant temperature and humidity environment chamber

Specification of the thermostat. which was used to simulate the indoor thermal environment.
Items Value Unit The chilled water generated by the thermostat was directed to
Working temperature 20e105

C
the capillary panel, which was placed in the constant temperature
Accuracy 0.15

C and humidity environment chamber. A pump was employed to
Volume 30 L circulate the chilled water in the system. A flow meter was
employed to measure the flow rate of the chilled water.
The capillary models were placed in the constant temperature
and humidity environment chamber, which was used to simulate
Table 2
Specification of the constant temperature and humidity machine. an indoor thermal environment. Table 2 shows the specification of
the constant temperature and humidity machine.
Items Value Unit
Three capillary panel models, as shown in Fig. 3, were made and
Volume of working room 500 L experimentally investigated. The capillary models from the left to


Temperature range 60e150 C the right are pure tube model, the capillary model with metal


Temperature accuracy 0.5 C
Humidity range 30e98 %
covering and the capillary model with gypsum covering. The
Humidity deviation 3 % outside and inside diameters of the capillary tube were 4.3 mm and
Refrigeration power 4.5 kW 2.7 mm, respectively. Each model had 10 tubes with each tube
Humidity power 1.5 kW having a length of 800 mm. The length and width of each model
was 400 mm and400 mm, respectively.

2. Method and experimental set-up 2.3. Data acquisition system

2.1. Method Several types of sensors, as shown in Table 3, were employed in

Fig. 1 shows the heat transfer process between chilled water
inside the capillary and the surroundings. The chilled water flows
through the capillary tube where convective heat transfer process
takes place. The heat transfer coefficient is considered to be
dependent on parameters such as chilled water velocity, coefficient
of heat conductivity of the tube, diameter of the tube as well as
temperature difference between chilled water and tube. The tube
basically serves as a medium through which thermal transport fluid
flows, which then absorb heating from radiation or convection
from its environment surroundings. Water condensation could be
observed on the surface of the capillary tube whenever the chilled
water temperature was far below the dew point of the conditioned
space. Condensation process was observed to significantly affect
the way and amount of heat transfer between the capillary tube
and the surroundings. In real application, however, condensation
should generally be avoided.
2.2. Experimental set-up
To study the main influencing factors of a radiant cooling sys-
tem, an experimental rig was designed and built. Fig. 2 shows the
schematic diagram and photo of the experimental system. The
system employed a thermostat device to generate chilled water at a
specific set temperature. The specification of the thermostat is
presented in Table 1. The radiant models are laid up horizontally in
the whole system including thermometers, flow meters, irradiation
sensors, hygrometers and pressure gauges. The platinum resistance
sensors were fixed at specific locations such as the inlet and outlet
of the capillary panel. Chamber and walls temperatures of the
constant temperature and humidity were also recorded by the
same kind of sensors. The data acquisition logger was connected to
the computer and the data recorded in every 15 s.
3. Experimental results
3.1. Influencing parameters
Experiments were initially conducted to investigate effects of
the main influencing factors on the heat transfer performance of
the radiant panels. Variation of heat transfer performance with the
water velocity, the temperature of inlet chilled water and the
ambient thermal environment were studied.
The temperature and relative humidity of constant temperature
and humidity environment chamber were set at 26
C and 60% RH,
respectively. The chilled water temperature in the thermostat was
set at 17
C, which was close the dew point temperature inside the
chamber, to avoid the condensation of moisture as well as to attain
the best heat transfer performance when a larger temperature
difference was achieved. Fig. 4 shows the variation of the heat
transfer performance with the water velocities ranging between
0.05 m/s and 0.7 m/s.

Fig. 3. Photos of the three capillary radiant cooling models. (a) Pure mode, (b) metal model, (c) gypsum model.
18 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23

Table 3
Main measurement sensors of the monitoring system.

Category Amount Accuracy

Flow meter 1 0.01 m/s

Thermometer 12 0.03
C
Hygrometer 1 0.03
C
Pressure gauge 1 0.1 kPa
Anemometer 1 0.1 m/s

It was observed that the heat transfer increased with the in-
crease in chilled water velocity ranging from 0.05 m/s to 0.25 m/s.
That was because that increase in chilled water velocity resulted in
the reduction of temperature difference between the inlet and
outlet of chilled water, leading to lower mean temperature of the
chilled water. After that, the results state that the heat transfer
increases significantly from 30 W/m2 to 62 W/m2 when the water
velocity increases from 0.25 m/s to 0.45 m/s. As the chilled water
velocity went beyond 0.45 m/s, the heat transfer rate started to
decrease. Suitable chilled water velocity was about 0.45 m/s for Fig. 5. Variation of heat transfer with the temperature of inlet chilled water.
certain capillary tube due to its best heat transfer performance.
Consequently, the heat transfer of 62 W/m2 could be obtained caused by the heat transfer between capillary tube and the
for selected radiant cooling panel at standard controlled space ambient, but also by the condensation of moisture.
temperature and relative humidity of 26
C and 60% RH, respec-
tively, and with inlet chilled water temperature and velocity of
3.2. Performance analysis of the moisture condensation
17
C and 0.45 m/s, respectively.
The temperature of inlet chilled water is another important
The water condensation phenomenon on the surface of the
parameter that significantly influences the condensation of mois-
radiant cooling panels was recorded by a macro camera (Canon
ture and heat transfer performance. If we still keep the inside
550D camera installed with an EF 100 mm f/2.8 USM focus). Fig. 6
condition of the constant temperature and humidity environment
shows the photos of condensation of moisture on the surface
chamber as 26
C and 60% RH respectively, and set the water ve-
capillary tube after 60 min operating. It was observed that with
locity at 0.45 m/s. The variation of the heat transfer performance
decrease in chilled water temperature from 16
C to 14
C, the
with the inlet chilled water temperature is as shown in Fig. 5.
amount of condensate on the capillary tube surface became more
It can be observed that, owing to the increment of temperature
and more. Besides, the sizes of condensate droplets were observed
difference between chilled water and the surrounding, the heat
to be larger with decrease in chilled water temperature. According
transfer gradually increases while the temperature of inlet chilled
to the measurement, the detailed information of condensation is
water decreases from 18
C to 16
C. The heat transfer significantly
shown in Table 4.
increases while the temperature of inlet chilled water decreases
The condensate droplets sizes on capillary tube surfaces were
from 16
C to 14
C. This was mainly due to the condensation of
measured an hour after starting the experiment. Quantized
moisture on the surface of the radiant cooling panel. That means
condensation analysis on the radiant cooling surfaces was done
part of the cooling was absorbed by the ambient moisture to
with the following assumptions:
generate water on the surface of radiant panel. For this reason, the
heat transfer between the radiant panel and the ambient is not only
(1) The shapes of the condensation of moistures were irregular.
Here, the diameters of the water droplet were calculated as:

dw ¼ ðd1 þ d2 Þ=2 (1)

dw, d1, d2 were substituted with their respective dimensions shown

in Fig. 7.

(2) The heights of the condensate droplets were measured by

their profiles. The shapes of water drops on the surface of the
capillary tube were assumed to be upper ellipsoid. The
average diameter and the average height were calculated
based on the droplets generated on the capillary tube
surface.

From Table 4, the average water productions of condensation on

the radiant cooling panel under different conditions were obtained.
Taking Fig. 7 and Table 4 into consideration, the heat transfer from
chilled water can be divided into two parts: cooling used to
Fig. 4. Variation of heat transfer performance with water velocity inside the capillary improve the indoor thermal environment, and the cooling used for
tube. condensation. Fig. 8 shows the variation of chilled water inlet
 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23 19

Fig. 6. Photos of the condensation of moisture condition under different chilled water temperature when the thermal environment was 26
C, 60% RH.

Table 4 the temperature difference between the chilled water and the in-
Details of condensate droplets at different of chilled water inlet temperatures under door dew point was defined. It was observed that there was no
constant thermal environment.
condensation processes when the sub-cooled degree was lower
Temperature/
C 17 16 15 14 13 12 than 2.4
C. Little condensation could be observed when the sub-
Average diameter/mm 0 0 0.142 0.223 0.264 0.292 cooled degree was 3.2
C. In contrast, the pure model was
Average height/mm 0 0 0.122 0.203 0.234 0.265 capable of working without the risk of condensation at chilled
water inlet temperature that equals the indoor dew point tem-
perature. Fig. 9-b shows the variations in condensation under
temperature with its corresponding heat transfer performance. different sub-cooled degree when the ambient temperature and
This figure analyzed possible operation strategies that can be relative humidity were 27
C and 70% RH, respectively. It was
employed to cut down on latent heat used in condensation of the observed that water condensation occurred at a sub-cooled degree
capillary tube surface. of 2.5
C, which is 0.7
C lower than that of condition 1 (26
C, 60%
It can be seen that increase in inlet chilled water temperature RH). This showed that water condensation can easily occur under
only caused a small increment in the cooling used to improve the the environment with higher temperature and relative humidity.
indoor thermal environment. Much of the increased cooling ca- Table 5 shows the detailed information of condensation when
pacity shown in Fig. 5 resulted from the decrease in inlet chilled the ambient temperature and relative humidity were 27
C and 70%
water temperature from 16
C to 14
C which also caused genera- RH, respectively.
tion of water condensate. It can be seen that, comparing with the condensation under
Fig. 9-a shows the photos of water condensation at different standard test thermal condition, condensate droplets were not
sub-cooled degree. The sub-cooled degree (SCD) that represents easily formed, however, average dimensions of the water drops

Fig. 7. Dimensions of the water drop.

20 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23
Fig. 8. Variation of the cooling used to improve indoor thermal environment with the
temperature of inlet chilled water.
were bigger after formation. The average diameter of the water
drops under conditions shown in Table 5 were 0.334 mm at sub-
cooled degree of 2.5
C, which was 2.35 times larger than those
formed at standard test thermal conditions at a sub-cooled degree
of 3.2
C. This means that the indoor thermal environment plays a
very important role on water condensation on the radiant cooling
panels.
Table 6 shows the generation process of the water condensation
over time. The chilled water inlet temperature, the temperature
ambient and the surrounding relative humidity were 13
C, 26
C
and 60% RH, respectively. After the conditions of the chilled water
and the inner chamber thermal environment attained the pre-set
values, the photos of water condensation process were taken at
intervals of 10 min. It can be seen that the growth rate of the
condensate droplets decreased over time, as a result of diminishing
Fig. 9. Photos of the water condensation phenomenon. (a) Photos of the water condensation phenomenon with different sub-cooled degree under the regular thermal environment
(26
C, 60%). (b) Photos of condensate droplets on capillary tubes surface at the sub-cooled degree of 1.8
C, 2.5
C, 3.4
C and 5.2
C, respectively under the challenge thermal
environment (27
C, 70%)
Table 5
Detailed information of condensation at different chilled water inlet temperature
and ambient temperature and relative humidity of 27
C and 70%, respectively.
Average temperature/
C 19 18 17 16 15
Average diameter/mm 0 0 0.334 0.464 0.511
Average height/mm 0 0 0.282 0.321 0.355
surface of capillary tube in direct contact with indoor air. The
temperature of the tube skin was lower than the temperature of the
condensation water droplets. This led to a faster condensation of
moisture on the tube skin to be generated than on water droplets.
3.3. Comparison of the three radiant cooling modules
The condensation of moisture on the surface of radiant cooling
panel is a primary obstacle in practical application and use of
radiant cooling technique. The three type modules of radiant
cooling panel were developed to study the properties and behavior
of water condensation. Fig. 10 shows the variations of heat transfer
performance of the three modules with and without condensation
of moisture. It is shown that, when the temperature of chilled water
was 17
C, the gypsum panel displayed the best heat transfer per-
formance as compared to the other two radiant panels because of
the higher fin efficiency of the gypsum. The heat transfer perfor-
mance between capillary tube and gypsum was better than that
between capillary tube and metal because all the capillary tubes
were in close contact with the gypsum; However, the metal panel
cannot fully contact the capillary tubes.
When the chilled water was set at 15
C, the condensation of
moisture occurred. The heat transfer performance of all the three
panels improved, especially for the pure model. For pure model, the
heat transfer increased by nearly 150% while the temperature of
inlet chilled water was changed from 17
C to 12
C, but only 24% for
the gypsum panel. Fig. 11 shows the condensation of moisture on
the surfaces of the three radiant panels. It was observed that more
 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23
Table 6
Detailed information of water condensation process.
Time/min 10 20 30 40 50
Average diameter/mm 0.162 0.190 0.211 0.231 0.242
Fig. 10. Variation of heat transfer performance with/without condensation of
moisture.
water condensate was found on the surface of pure panel while
only a little on the surface of metal panel. For this reason, increase
in heat transfer of the metal panel was lower than that of the pure
panel. Little condensation of moisture was found on the gypsum
panel because the moisture was immediately adsorbed by the
gypsum.
Fig. 12 shows the heat transfer performance of the three radiant
cooling panels under different ambient conditions. The tempera-
tures of two conditions are 26 and 27
C, respectively with relative
humilities of 60% RH and 70% RH, respectively. In the experiments,
the chilled water temperature and water velocity were kept at 17
C
and 0.45 m/s, respectively. The results showed that heat transfer of
the pure model increased from 36 W/m2 to 92 W/m2 when the
ambient condition changed from condition of 26
C, 60% RH to
condition of 27
C, 70% RH. The increase was mainly due to serious
water condensation on the capillary tube surface. No condensation
Fig. 11. Condensation of moisture at chilled water temperature of 15
C.
21
60
0.264
Fig. 12. Heat transfer performance under different conditions.
of moisture was found on the gypsum panel, with the heat transfer
increasing by 36%.
For the purpose of finding the upper limit of sub-cooling degree,
experiments were done by gradually decreasing the chilled water
temperature from 17
C until the condensation of moisture
occurred. In this case, the inside temperature and humidity of the
chamber were set to be 26
C and 60% RH, respectively. The chilled
water velocity was set at 0.45 m/s. The photos showing water
condensation for the three radiant cooling panels at the end of
experiments are shown in Fig. 13. It was concluded that the upper
limit of sub-cooling degree for the pure tube, gypsum panel and
metal panel were 3.2
C, 6.5
C and 5.4
C, respectively. This means
that there was no water condensation challenges on the gypsum
radiant panel on condition that the temperature of inlet chilled
water is higher than 11.5
C under condition of 26
C, 60% RH.
3.4. Strategies to prevent water condensation on the radiant cooling
panel surface
The sub-cooled degree of the radiant cooling model under
different thermal conditions can be used to control water
condensation on the radiant panel surface. Fig. 14 shows the control
strategy to mitigate water condensation based on the sub-cooled
degree. The experiment employed a controller which can start/
stop the pump by comparing the sub-cooled degree and the tem-
perature difference between chilled water inlet temperature and
22 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23
Fig. 13. Photos of the condensation of moisture phenomenon on the surfaces of the three models.
indoor dew point temperature. For example, when the temperature
difference between the temperature of inlet chilled water and in-
door dew point was reached to the sub-cooled degree, the
controller will stop the pump. And turn it on again while the
temperature difference was lower than the sub-cooled degree.
To verify if the control strategy was feasible, the experimental
tests were conducted on pure radiant cooling panel. The inner
chamber thermal environment was set as 26
C and 70% RH. As
mentioned before, the sub-cooled degree was 3.2
C and the tem-
perature for the controller shut down was set to be 15
C. Firstly, the
temperature of inlet chilled water was set as 16
C, which was
higher than the condensation temperature (14.4
C). And then the
temperature of inlet chilled water was reduced from 16
C to 13
C
to investigate the operation condition of the radiant cooling panel.
Finally, the temperature was increased to 17
C. Fig. 15 shows the
variations of the temperatures during the experiment. It can be
seen that the pump was stopped when the temperature of the inlet
chilled water reduce to the 15
C. It means that the controller would
shut down the pump while the chilled water inlet temperature
decreased towards condensation temperature. The pump was
started again when the temperature of inlet chilled water increase
to 16
C. The control strategy was confirmed to be efficient in
avoiding water condensation in radiant cooling systems.
4. Conclusions
Performance of heat transfer and water condensation on three
different types of radiant cooling panels was analyzed. The constant
Fig. 14. Control strategy for avoiding water condensation on the surface of the tube.
temperature and humidity environment chamber was employed to
simulate an indoor thermal environment. A thermostat was used to
generate chilled water at a constant temperature. According to the
experimental results, the main conclusions were as follows:
(1) Heat transfer performance of the radiant panels is improved
with the increase in the temperature difference between the
chilled water and the surroundings as well as with the ve-
locity of the chilled water.
(2) The gypsum radiant cooling panel displays the best perfor-
mance of heat transfer as compared to the metal radiant
cooling panel and the pure tube panel. Besides, it has the best
capability of avoiding water condensation under identical
conditions.
(3) Water condensation on the radiant panels takes part of the
cooling from the chilled water, which results in both air
pollution problem and insufficient cooling capacity.
(4) When the ambient temperature and relative humidity are
26
C and 60% RH, respectively, the limit of sub-cooled de-
gree for the pure panel, metal panel and gypsum panel are
3.2
C, 5.4
C and 6.5
C, respectively.
(5) The water condensation control strategy was raised based on
the ‘ub-cooled degree. The waster condensation phenome-
non can be avoided through experimental research.
Radiant cooling is potential using in residential building air
conditioning if the cooling capacity could be increased while it is
running secure. The water control strategy was proved to meet
 Y.L. Yin et al. / Building and Environment 71 (2014) 15e23
Fig. 15. Variation of the temperatures of the system.
above demands. However, water condensation could be found
under fluctuant indoor condition. For this reason, employing
innovative material such as hydrophobic, on the panels, is a
promising technological measure which can guarantee safe and
improved operation of the system.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Natural Science Founda-
tion of China under the contract No. 51276114 and Program for New
Century Excellent Talents in University No. NCET-12-0360. The
support from The Ministry of Education Innovation Team (IRT 1159)
is also appreciated.
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