Design of radiant floor heating panel in view of floor surface temperatures

The radiant floor heating panel should be designed to maintain the indoor condition within the comfort range, to prevent discomfort when contacting floor surfaces of uneven temperature distribution, and to prevent skin burn and unwanted deformation of materials. For these reasons, heat flux and floor surface temperature distribution should be examined at the design stage. However, the current design convention focuses mainly on securing enough heat flux and not much of attention is given to floor surface temperature distribution. In this study, design charts were developed that help designers to consider heat flux, difference between maximum and minimum floor surface temperature (DFST), and maximum floor surface temperature (MFST) at the design stage through investigating the relationships between heat flux and design parameters and conducting numerical simulations to analyze floor surface temperature distributions. These charts were validated through experiments. Then some applications and limitations were suggested for utilizing the design charts. The design charts can be applied to panels with no floor covering, linoleum and oak wood as floor coverings. Design alternatives for other floor coverings can also be developed by interpolating the values from the design charts, because there are linear relationships between the required average water temperature and heat flux. The results of this study can be used to examine the designed panel to verify whether it can provide enough heat flux and that DFST and MFST are appropriate. Additionally, the developed design charts help the designer to compare design alternatives, thus enhancing the flexibility of the panel design. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.