Thermal comfort assessment and application of radiant cooling at Mehran University, Pakistan | |
| Author | Memon, Rizwan Ahmed |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.ET-05-14 |
| Subject(s) | Thermal analysis Radiant heating--Pakistan Buildings--Environmental engineering--Pakistan Temperature--Environmental aspects |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Scientists and Engineers are always interested in exploring cheap sources of providing thermal comfort to the occupants of the buildings as air-conditioning has been proved to be very energy intensive, radiant cooling has been proved a very cheap method of providing thermal comfort, the application of option is, however, limited due to the fact that existing thermal comfort standards such ASHRAE/ANSI 55-1992 requires low room air temperatures, providing comfort on that low temperatures while using radiant cooling increases the chance of condensation on radiant cooling surfaces. The possibility of revising thermal comfort standards is, however, vast as many field studies suggest that people were found comfortable outside the comfort zone standardized by the experimental studies such as ASHRAE/ANSI 55-1992. A survey of thermal comfort assessment was therefore carried out at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, situated in the subtropical region of Pakistan, to determine the comfort requirement of the building occupants in the area, 764 responses were collected from 647 respondents. A questionnaire was distributed amongst the students and the environmental parameters were measured the same time. The data was analyzed and compared with the similar studies carried out in this and other regions. The results determined Effective temperature of 29.85°C (29.30T) as neutral temperature for this region which stretches the upper range of comfort temperature by 3.85°C. The results show close agreement with other adaptive models. Application of Radiant Cooling was analysed for two areas of the university, AC offices where aircondition facility exists already and Naturally Ventilated classrooms. Base case AC office and NV classroom was simulated using TRNSYS system simulation program to estimate the energy consumption in case the base case AC office and NV classroom are provided comfort using air-conditioning instead of radiant cooling. The energy consumption is expanded for whole AC areas and NV classrooms. It is concluded that providing thermal comfort is possible throughout the working hours in the university if ceiling fans are used as additionally, it is also concluded that use of radiant cooling will make the offices and classrooms suitable for night time use, it is also estimated that in case the existing AC offices are provided thermal comfort using radiant cooling in place of air-conditioning 118.2 MWH /year or 80% savings are expected, savings of 106.8MWH/year or 81% were estimated in case NV classrooms are provided comfort through radiant cooling instead of air-conditioning |
| Year | 2005 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Energy Technology (ET) |
| Chairperson(s) | Surapong Chirarattananon |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kumar, S.;Perera, L.A.S. Ranjith;Nadarajah, Mithulananthan |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Norway (NORAD) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005 |