Radiant Floor Cooling Combined with Mixing Ventilation in a Residential Room: Thermal Comfort and Ventilation Effectiveness

Mixing air ventilation system is one of the main ventilation concepts applied in residential buildings. The effect of combining the mixing ventilation system with the radiant floor heating has been well established, whereas the validation of using the floor for cooling in summer is still in progress.

An experimental laboratory study in a simulated residential room with a seated occupant simulated by a thermal manikin was performed in order to evaluate thermal comfort and ventilation effectiveness. Thermal comfort was evaluated by means of vertical air temperature and air velocity profiles and by thermal manikin equivalent temperatures.

Contaminant removal effectiveness and air change efficiency were used to characterize the ventilation effectiveness. The vertical air temperature differences that occurred when floor cooling was combined with cold conditioned air supply were well within the limits for comfortable thermal environment recommended by the standards.

The cooler supply air mixed well and the effect of the position of air terminal devices was small. When warm unconditioned outside air was supplied by mixing ventilation in combination with the radiant floor cooling, low floor temperature was needed to keep the desired room temperature, followed by increased vertical air temperature differences of about 4 °C for a sitting person, and the ventilation effectiveness was dominated by the position of air terminal devices and the supply air flow.