Provide Comfort and Energy Efficiency
Radiant cooling has gained recent popularity in Europe and North America because it offers the potential to reduce cooling energy consumption and peak cooling loads. The system not only offers comfort with great energy efficiency, it also allows for downsizing chillers and eliminating individual air conditioning units.
Uponor uses the energy-storage capacity of concrete floors to distribute radiant heating and radiant cooling energy throughout commercial buildings.
Much like the Uponor radiant heating system, the radiant cooling system maintains comfortable temperatures by circulating a water-and-glycol solution through crosslinked polyethylene (PEX-a) tubing that is installed under the floor.
In a radiant heating application, the energy moves away from the heated surface toward the cooler area to warm objects and people in an area. A radiant cooling system is simply the opposite. The energy moves toward the cooled surface from the warmer area, surrounding people with a cooler, comfortable temperature.
Comfort and Cost Savings
A radiant cooling system provides several options for offering ultimate comfort while also providing energy efficiency. For example, one radiant system can both heat and cool, and in some climates in North America, the system may do both throughout the day. Some designs can even transport heat from one side of the building to the other. And because radiant surfaces are often cooled only a few degrees below the desired indoor air temperature, there are many opportunities for innovative cooling sources such as night fluid cooling, ground-coupled hydronic loops and indirect evaporative cooling.
Key Benefits
- Thermal energy storage in the panel structure, exposed walls and partitions reduces peak loads for greater energy efficiency
- Eliminates the need for mechanical equipment within the conditioned room, increasing square-footage space (especially valuable in hospital patent rooms and other applications where space is at a premium)
- No drafts or temperature swings for the ultimate in comfort
- Eliminates the need for individual air conditioning units, especially where window-mount units are more prevalent
- Centrally located mechanical equipment offers simplified maintenance and operation
- Noisy fans and blowers dispersing dust and other allergens are eliminated, increasing indoor air quality (particularly valuable where maximum cleanliness is essential or where dictated by legal requirements)
Typical Radiant Cooling Applications
Commercial Applications: Airports, office buildings, atrium areas, manufacturing facilities and retail spaces
Institutional Applications: Educational facilities, correctional institutions, healthcare facilities and hospitals
Residential Applications: Homes, dormitories and barracks
Cultural Applications: Museums and churches
Typical Radiant Cooling Installations
