A Passive Malaysian Residential Building With A Hydronic Radiator
This paper presents a study to find a ‘green’ alternative to the conventional air conditioner seen on the walls of many residential buildings in Malaysia. EnergyPlus®, the official building simulation software of the US Department of Energy, is used to model a row of four units of modern low cost...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
International journal of recent research and applied studies
2011
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/9826/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/9826/1/A%20PASSIVE%20MALAYSIAN%20RESIDENTIAL%20BUILDING%20%28abstract%29.pdf |
| Summary: | This paper presents a study to find a ‘green’ alternative to the conventional air conditioner seen on the walls of many
residential buildings in Malaysia. EnergyPlus®, the official building simulation software of the US Department of
Energy, is used to model a row of four units of modern low cost terrace housing, end walls facing East and West to
minimize exposure to the sun’s ray. The high altitude of the tropical sun heats the metallic roofs to above 60°C
during the day and the attic is naturally cooled by outdoor air infiltration through effective leakage area of 2342m2
per unit. Insulation of R-value 2.5 (m2.K)/W is added above the ceilings. Simulations are run with outdoor dry bulb
temperatures that are exceeded, on average, by 0.4% (35 hours) in a year, for Kuching, in East Malaysia. Typical
meteorological year data shows that the maximum nightly temperatures in Kuching are about 25°C and in West
Malaysian cities with World Meteorological Organisation stations are about 26°C. When radiative heat loss to the
dark night sky is included, water can be cooled to 25°C. Preliminary simulations verify that beam solar radiation
enters through the windows, and external window shades lower the maximum indoor temperature in the hottest West
end unit, unoccupied, by 0.6°C to 30.5°C. Night cooled water circulated to a hydronic radiator, then lowers the
maximum ‘well-mixed’ operative temperature of the unit, occupied, to below 30.2°C. The indoor air is stratified to a
hotter upper and a lower cooler layer, and the occupant’s environment is comfortable with air speeds of 0.8m/s. |
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