Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Heat Transfer Performance for All Water Inlet and Outlet Configurations in a Panel Radiator

In a modern-day household, the most significant part of energy consumption is space heating. In this study, the effects of connection configurations on the heat transfer from the radiator are investigated. The difference between the current study and previous studies is that all possible valve connection configurations are investigated on the radiator, instead of only having water enter through one valve and outlet through another. The experimental results of heat transfer from the radiator in all connection configurations are presented. In addition, the temperature distributions on the radiator surface for each connection configuration are visualized using a thermal camera, and remarkable findings are presented. These images provide insights into the water flow distribution in the ducts of the radiator and the effects of the distribution on heat transfer. CFD simulations were conducted to analyze temperature and flow distributions for different connection configurations and revealed that two inlets from the bottom and two outlets from the top of the panel radiator have the best case in terms of temperature distribution. This study contributes to improving energy consumption efficiency for space heating by determining the heat transfer rate from the radiator in different valve connection configurations.