Radiant cooling and heating is an underutilized way of providing very high quality thermal comfort to occupants. The reasons for this may be attributed to unfamiliarity in the design community, perceived expense, and slow reaction to changing demands in thermal comfort; a common condition in public spaces. In this paper, we have focused on analyzing and comparing radiant cooling and heating systems to conventional Variable-Air-Volume (VAV) HVAC systems. Our comparative analysis was conducted for the Oregon Health and Sciences University (OHSU) new mixed use LEED platinum building, the Center for Health and Healing (CHH) in Portland, Oregon. We have focused our investigation on the reaction time of a high performance radiant system and its impact on occupants' thermal comfort. Discovering positive or nonnegative impacts on thermal comfort from shifts in temperature give radiant systems a flexible edge over conventional HVAC systems. This benefits the building management by creating less demand on the system.Our findings indicate that the radiant systems of the OHSU-CHH building react in a timely manner managing a stronglevel of thermal comfort and at the same time pushing the boundaries of conventional temperatures acceptances by the occupants. Our data provides an evidence-based corroboration of how this system achieves the adaptive thermal comfort model. This information could provide designers and architects with substantial evidence for future adaption of radiant systems for enhanced thermal comfort while savings energy in sustainable commercial buildings.
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