Once again, the team underwent the task of modeling smaller sections of flooring and extrapolating the data to the entire layout. Because of the massive size of the building, a forced-air circulation system would be near impossible to achieve and hopelessly expensive. That’s why the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC, Figure 4) came to Viega about installing a radiant cooling system. In environments like Southern California, cooling contributes more to comfort than heating. It is a great tool that allows us to share data virtually anywhere in the world from our office.” ARTIC “But the simulation applications allow us to go above and beyond and offer them the invaluable service of visualization.
“Prospective customers often have many initial questions involving multiple iterations,” Austin explains. When Viega’s team is at meetings with prospective customers, they can now quickly adjust parameters, like water temperature or tubing diameter, and show the output of the heating or cooling system on the spot. Viega truly benefits from multiphysics simulation through the use of simulation applications and COMSOL Server™ to share them with their customers. "COMSOL is primarily helpful for nonstandard applications where there is multidirectional output or more complex structures,” Austin says. They then use simulation to determine tube placement and spacing, temperature distributions (Figure 3), and heating or cooling capacity to make sure the customers’ needs are met. Simulation allows us to provide engineering data to support our designs.” When a project is proposed to them, a mechanical engineer from the site provides requirements for heating and cooling outputs, structural specifications, floor covering materials, and usually a range of acceptable water temperatures. “We draw the layout on floor plans, move it into COMSOL, and eventually share it with customers. “COMSOL® supplements our heating and cooling design and layout program,” Austin says.
#Radiant heating system software#
System Designīrett Austin, supervisor of heating and cooling design at Viega, uses the COMSOL Multiphysics® software to design a system to meet their customers’ needs. The water temperature in the tubing distribution is simply controlled by the opening and closing of valves and even yields a more constant temperature throughout the room. 180☏), they optimize the energy consumption. Radiant heating systems pair quite well with modern, high-efficiency water boilers, and since they don’t circulate air and utilize lower water temperatures than a baseboard system (115☏ vs. The recent emergence of environmental consciousness and energy efficiency at the forefront of building design has contributed strongly to the increased popularity in radiant heating. These tubes are vigorously tested, adhering to standards for temperature and pressure ratings, minimum bending radii, and pipe wall thickness. The cross-linking benefits are two-fold: It provides the capability to withstand higher temperatures and pressures and increases its resistance to stress cracking.
The special tubing is made of a cross-linked, high-density polyethylene (known commonly as PEX).
#Radiant heating system skin#
This is just like when you move from a shady spot to a sunbathed one although the air temperature is the same, your skin feels much warmer because of the absorption of thermal radiation. The uppermost surface of the floor then radiates heat to the rest of the room. Hot water (or cold water in cooling applications) runs through the tubing and heats the surrounding material. The tubing is then laid beneath the flooring in a panel system. This radiation will only be absorbed by opaque surfaces in other words, it will be absorbed by our bodies (but not the air), creating a feeling of warmth.Ī tubing layout is designed in a specific configuration by Viega. When the floor can be kept at a warm temperature, it will give off thermal radiation in the room. Radiant heating is used not only for floor warming applications but also to control the temperature of a room. Radiant Floor SystemsĪlthough they have existed in various forms since the Roman Empire, radiant systems are turning out to be particularly useful in modern society for both commercial and residential applications. Viega, a company that both designs and manufactures radiant heating systems, helps tackle situations where special methods of temperature control are needed.
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