An experimental study on moisture distribution and a way of mitigating condensation in a bedroom with a radiation-based task air conditioning system applied to sleeping environments

Abstract

Task/ambient air condition system (TAC) is an excellent air conditioning method because of good performance in thermal comfort, indoor air quality and energy saving, and can be best applied to sleeping environments due to the immobility of a sleeping person. Previously, an R-TAC system for sleeping environments was proposed to deal with the cold-draft problem encountered in C-TAC systems for sleeping environments. However, the potential risk of condensation should not be ignored when using R-TAC systems due to the cold radiant panel. Therefore, a follow-up experimental study on indoor moisture distribution and a way of mitigating condensation in a bedroom when using R-TAC systems was carried out, and are presented in this paper. Firstly, two different settings of the R-TAC system are described. Secondly, moisture distributions in the bedroom, and condensation thresholds of moisture content of the supply air are analyzed and compared at two settings. The experimental results showed that vertical and horizontal moisture distributions in the bedroom were not greatly affected by the height of the supply vent, however, the R-TAC system at Setting 2 performed better in reducing condensation risk as compared with Setting 1.