Experimental Study on Radiators in Low Temperature Geothermal Space Heating Systems

Abstract

For the vast heating area in North China, 90 % of the indoor heating equipment is the castiron or steel radiator. Its proportion in the investment of low temperature geothermal space heating system is comparatively high. As the design and the choice of suitable radiators have direct effects on heating gains and heating quality, experiments have been conducted on the performances of various radiators widely used in China. On the basis of the study on different types of radiators, the authors have analysed the present situation of radiator production and existing problems in China and studied the characteristics of the radiator used in low. temperature geothermal space heating systems. This paper also presents the thermodynamical performance of radiators"with low temperature hot water. The result shows that the flow rate has an big effect on the heat transfer of the radiators when the flow rate is small. This often occures when engineer designs geothermal space heating systems with a big heating temperature drop. Finally, the paper points out the direction of future improvement in radiator production.