Standard 138 establishes uniform methods of laboratory testing for rating steady-state thermal performance of ceiling panels manufactured for radiant panel heating and cooling of indoor spaces. The objective is to rate ceiling panels under repeatable conditions. This standard covers steady-state testing of ceiling panels at panel surface temperatures from 24°C to 65°C (75°F to 149°F) for nonmetal heat transfer elements in the ceiling panel or from 24°C to 150°C (75°F to 302°F) for metal heat transfer elements in the ceiling panel. Sensible cooling ceiling panels are tested from 14°C to 24°C (57°F to 75°F). This standard does not cover the following ceiling panels: (a) hybrid (combined thermal radiation and forced-convection: load-sharing) ceiling panels; (b) ceiling panels that are embedded into the ceiling, wall, or floor structure; or (c) test methods for design, production, or field-testing of ceiling panels. This standard provides correction factors with respect to defined test conditions for the size of the test room, barometric pressure in the test location, and average air velocity in the vicinity of the test panels in order to ensure repeatable test results.

This is a revision of ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 138-2005. This revision updates the references, and the dates of the referenced works cited in the body of the text have been removed and are now only found in Section 12. In addition, I-P units were editorially added in Section 8.4.2, item 10. Other minor editorial changes were made as well.

Keywords: radiant heating panels

Units: Dual