An upward fans-assisted radiant heating ceiling system has been developed to counteract the limitations of the radiant heating ceiling where warm air stays close to the ceiling reducing heat transfer from the heated panels. The ceiling fan speed, radiant surface temperature, sound absorber coverage rate and installation type were considered to give preliminary guidelines for the design of this combined system. The air temperature non-uniformity and vertical temperature difference were reduced with the ceiling fan running. Increasing the sound absorber coverage ratio would reduce the air/operative temperature. The draught sensation satisfied the recommended limits with a proper ceiling fan speed. The predicted mean vote can be increased by 0.3–0.6 units when a ceiling fan was operated at 72 r/min and with different sound absorber rates, compared to the case with no-fan. Meanwhile, the total heat transfer coefficients from the radiant panels were increased by 36%–106% with the ceiling fan operated at 72 r/min. The radiant surface temperature can be reduced by 3°C with the fan operated at 72 r/min while maintaining thermal comfort. These results infer that this combined system with a proper fan speed can run at a lower radiant surface temperature, improve thermal comfort and save heating energy.
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