Thermal performance analyses of a new multi-segmented minichannel-based radiant ceiling cooling panel

In this study, a new multi-segmented radiant ceiling panel with different tilt angle is proposed. The effect of segments inclination angle and panel area increase for the same coverage ratio are investigated. A 3-dimension computational fluid dynamics model is developed and validated for these comparisons. It is concluded that increasing segments angle decrease the ratio between the radiation and total heat exchange. In addition, using the multi-segments allows the air to move from the plenum area to the central zone of the room. Further, the operative temperature for the +/- 45 degrees is minimum with best value for the predicted mean vote and lowest value of predicted percentage dissatisfied compared with +/- 30 degrees, +/- 75 degrees and 90 degrees. And increasing the panel area with 300% increased the panel cooling capacity by around 140% for the same indoor temperature of 25.3 +/- 0.2 degrees C and the same ceiling area. This research found that the cooling capacity is proportional to the area of the radiant panel, but under the same ceiling area, when the area ratio exceeds a certain value, the thermal performance will decrease due to the reduction of the convection heat transfer coefficient