RADIANT PANELS
A STEP IN THE PAST: THE PROBLEMS OF HEATERS
Since 1800 with the industrial revolution and the new metallurgic technologies, heaters started to be more common and replace the fireplaces. For the past century there hasn’t been a real improvement in this type of technology, and the concept has always been the same: a concentrated distribution of heat in one room, and distribution of the heat in the other rooms by means of convection. This implies that the heat would be brought mainly upwards towards the ceiling, and not towards the lower part of the rooms, which is in fact the area in which it is the most needed.
The problems of heaters are known:a waste of fuel, dirt on the walls, encumbrance, dangerous corners, mites, and the impossibility to also condition the environment with the same technology. An evolution is represented by the air heaters, but they still bring the heat upwards towards the ceiling and create annoying air currents at ankle-level.
HEAT THEORIES
Heat can be spread to a colder body by means of:
1) Conduction:when a body is heated, the heat goes towards the coldest spot; for example, an iron bar that is heated on one of its sides will distribute heat by means of conduction towards its coldest and furthest areas.
2) Convection: this means is mainly for fluids. When a container filled with water is placed on the stove, the bottom layer is heated first. Hot water dilates due to the increase in the tem perature, and it floats upwards, bringing the cold water downwards. Water is therefore heated through mixing.
3) Radiance: in this case matter is not needed, because heat propagates itself also in the void, just like the Sun heats the Earth. Irradiate means to emit radiations, and all the bodies emit and absorb electro-magnetic radiations that move from a warmer to a colder body. These radiations are electric and magnetic fields that propagate in the space at the speed of light: since these radiations carry energy, when they are absorbed by a body they induce an increase of the kinetic energy on its molecules, and therefore an increase of heat. All of this does not derive only from the Sun, but even just from a warm body, such as a floor or a radiant wall: we have all had the experience of walking at night beside a wall that was exposed to the Sun rays during the day; this is the principle on which the radiant floors are designed.
The human body must always release heat, and therefore it emits electro-magnetic radiations that are absorbed by cold air or by the walls during winter. If the person is in an environment where there are radiant panels with a temperature that is about 10°C lower than that of the human being, the heat that the person is releasing is sent back by the opposite energy of the radiant panel, and therefore the person will feel warm and comfortable. This same criteria can be applied to cool radiant panels that are used to condition the environments during the summer. A radiant floor in the summer will have a temperature of about 19°-21°C, and this temperature is enough to absorb the exceeding heat coming from the human being, thus giving a comfortable sensation that is optimized by the control of the relative humidity of the environments.
Another point that needs to be considered is the opposite of heat: coolness. While in the northern countries there is only a demand of heating during winter, in Italy and the other countries in the same latitude range there is also the need of air-conditioning during summer. With Deltasolar’s radiant floor it is possible to obtain a great comfort also during summer with an incredible energy saving by using the radiant effect in the best way possible.
RADIANT FLOORS is the name generally given to those radiant bodies that are normally flat and constituted by:
Radiant floor
A) RADIANT FLOORS:qualified technicians believe that Deltasolar’s system has shown the best results among the companies of the sector. Radiant floors are in fact customized based on the environment with the right piping that allows to obtain an optimal heat dispersion to avoid creating legs and feet swellings.
With Deltasolar’s system it is possible to analyze thermal dispersion towards the external walls, and for this reason in that area piping is increased in order to balance the dispersion and grant a uniform heat. Its comfort, easy installation and a lower cost in respect to other companies’ establish Deltasolar’s radiant panels at the leading company in the radiant floors category.
Radiant wall
B) RADIANT WALL:when it is not possible to remove a floor because it is made with mosaics or fine wood, we use radiant walls. We prefer to avoid this system because it is not possible to place furniture close to these walls, or pictures.
Radiant walls are also used as an integration to the radiant floors in those bathrooms that are framed by external walls scarcely insulated.
In this case there is no problem of summer air-conditioning as it is generally avoided in the bathrooms.
Furthermore, radiant walls cannot be used for summer air-conditioning because they can create mold and condensation on the walls; this doesn’t happen with radiant floors.
Radiant ceiling
C) RADIANT CEILING:a few years ago they were realized by using steel pipes in the joists of the buildings, but, aside from not being able to be finely set and having a great thermal inertia, these pipes have gotten encrusted and pierced, giving trouble to the users. In order to solve this problems, and when it is not possible to redo the heating system with radiant floors, a new radiant ceiling is done, lowering the real ceiling of a few centimeters. All of this was possible in older homes, because the ceilings are higher than the usual 270 cm of the more modern homes.
Radiant baseboards
D) RADIANT BASEBOARDS: when it is not possible to have neither radiant floors, nor radiant walls or ceilings, it is possible to use radiant baseboards. Unfortunately their capability to provide heat is proportionate to their size and they cannot be intensified close to the largest thermal dispersion sources such as external doors.
Thermal furniture
E) THERMAL FURNITURE: it’s time to explain how to solve the problem of heating in the bathrooms. With Deltasolar’s system it is possible to place pipes in between the other systems, but it is not always possible to reach the desired temperature with only the radiant floor. In fact the bathroom furniture doesn’t always allow to install the right amount of radiant pipes. It is therefore important to integrate the amount of heat that is missing with a radiant wall (see above) or with thermal furniture. Deltasolar’s choice is to avoid high temperature (used by other companies), preferring low temperature instead – the same one of radiant floors. In this case the thermal furniture will have to have a larger size in order to compensate for the lower heat suppy (see bathrooms) .
