Investigates the general formulation of the inside surface heat balance from the conduction through the building elements to the radiant exchange and convection to the air in the zone. Development of many radiant exchange models is shown; these models range from the exact solutions using uniform radiosity networks and exact view factors to mean radiant temperature (MRT) and area-weighted view factors. These radiant exchange models are directly compared to each other for a simple zone with varying aspect ratios. The radiant exchange models are then compared to determine their effect on the cooling load. Finally, other parameters that affect the inside surface heat balance are investigated to determine their sensitivity to the cooling load.

Units: Dual

KEYWORDS: year 1997, Calculating, indoor, surfaces, heat balance, cooling load, heat flow, comparing, algorithms, mean radiant temperature, sensitivity, buildings