Evaluating the Performance of a Ceiling Radiation Cooling System in a Tropical Climate

The intensification of efforts toward energy efficiency in buildings, especially in tropical regions, involves looking into the advancement of cooling systems. The combination of radiant cooling systems with air systems provides a potential way to reduce energy consumption without compromising thermal comfort. The investigation of a ceiling radiation cooling system in a tropical environment is the main objective of this work. The study used 3D modeling in SketchUp and simulations by TRNSYS software to examine the efficacy of the Radiant Ceiling Panel (RCP) in lowering the practical load with actual data from the Sustainable Energy Living Laboratory (SELL) at the University of Kuala Lumpur. The RCP system is integrated with a Fan Coil Unit (FCU) to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the RCP’s efficacy in reducing the sensible load and improving thermal comfort. To prevent condensation, the panel temperature is successfully controlled by the two-stage controller. The findings indicate that while the RCP had no effect on the latent load, it reduced the sensible load by 28%, resulting in a 20% decrease in the thermal load. The sensible load decreased from 9.47 kW to 6.84 kW. The results show the effectiveness of RCP in providing thermal comfort and reducing thermal load in tropical climates.