MoCool - Occupant-centric, mobile, radiant panel cooling for increasing summer comfort in offices

Mobile, radiant cooling panel – hooked-up to central, hydronic cooling system for charging (left), with its layered structure, featuring phase change material for cold storage

At a glance

Project leader : Prof. Dr. Luca Baldini
Project team : Juan Camilo Mahecha Zambrano
Project status : ongoing
Funding partner : Federal government (Bundesamt für Energie BFE / Projekt Nr. SI/502568)
Project partner : Witzig The Office Company AG
Contact person : Luca Baldini

Description

This project proposes a novel mobile panel cooling solution for buildings in response to the increasing demand for space cooling. By using phase change materials for thermal energy storage the cooling panels are no fixed installation but can actually be moved freely in the space and used on demand only.

Conventional HVAC systems are designed to provide air conditioning to the entire building volume to ensure thermal comfort. However, they neglect the diversity of occupants, their individual needs and preferences, especially in large spaces such as openplan offices, and result in unnecessarily high energy demand at low occupancy.

The proposed mobile radiant cooling solution is very flexible and can be implemented with much less intervention required on the building. At the same time, the solution promises better individual comfort by directly influencing the mean radiant temperature in the room or at the workstation.

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