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HEAT

SLAB COOLING ( CHILLED SLAB )

Whenever there is a temperature difference between the conditioned indoor space of a


building and outdoor ambient, heat transfer takes place through the building structure (walls,
roof, floor etc.). This is known as fabric heat gain or loss, depending upon whether heat transfer
is to the building or from the building, respectively. The fabric heat transfer includes sensible
heat transfer through all the structural elements of a building, but does not include radiation heat
transfer through fenestration. Exact analysis of heat transfer through building structures is very
complex, as it has to consider:
a) Geometrically complex structure of the walls, roofs etc. consisting of a wide variety of
materials with different thermo-physical properties.
b) Continuously varying outdoor conditions due to variation in solar radiation, outdoor
temperature, wind velocity and direction etc.
c) Variable indoor conditions due to variations in indoor temperatures, load patterns etc.
All the substance including air, building material such as wood, glass and plaster and
insulation obey the same law of nature, they do the Heat Transfer solid material only differ in
the rate of heat transfer, which is affected by difrencess in density, weight, shape, permeability
and molecular structure. Material which transfer heat slowly can be said to resist heat flow.
The use of radiant heating and cooling is not new, the Romans used under floor radiant
heating and thermal mass heat storage in their hypocausts 2000 years ago. In Turkey, stream
water was run through channels in walls and floors to cool palaces in the warm summers. In the
1930s, architect Frank Lloyd Wright piped hot water through the floors of many of his buildings.
Radiant cooling is a gentle temperature conditioning system, exchanges thermal energy to
the space through convection and radiation. Conventional air conditioning units are only
designed to control air temperature whereas in radiant cooling, Radiant energy travels through
space without cooling the air itself but rather objects.

Radiation of energy takes place between objects with different surface temperature. Warmer
objects radiate heat to the cooler object just as the sun radiates heat to the cooler earth. This
system employs long wave radiation to the cooled surface to remove unwanted heat from space.
Convection occurs when the room air is cooled as it flows beneath the cooling slab. The cool
air is heavier than warm air rising from heat source which creates natural high volume low
velocity air currents.
Structural slab radiant cooling system. This is a surface cooling system where the water
tubes are placed in the roof slab that absorbs the heat from heat sources in the room. The Slab
absorbs the heat and exchanges it with the circulating water. The warm water is then pumped to a
chiller or a geothermal heat exchanger, re-cooled and returned to the slab. In Suruhanjaya Tenaga
building, they use this mechanism to archive the thermal comfort and to reduce the usage of air
conditioning in the building.

Figure 1 Example of chilled slab assamble

Figure 2 The regulator and control pressure of the water

There are many advantages of this cooling system for thr buildings such as :a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.

Maximum comfort
Draft free, no noise cooling
Lower sensed temperature
Lower investment costs
Lower energy costs
Architectural freedom
Minimal maintenance
Malfunction free operation
Space conditioning equipment is not needed at the outside walls simplifying the

wall, space and


j. structural systems.
k. No space is required within the air conditioner for mechanical equipment.
l. Structural slab radiant system can be used for heating and cooling the buildings
with same pipes.

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