Occupant Thermal Perception of a Cooling System Based on Ceiling-Mounted Radiant Panels Coupled to a Roof Pond

Roof ponds can provide modest structural cooling and stabilization of surface and indoor air temperatures in hot-dry climates, with special relevance to the Global South, where most desert areas are found. Thermal performance may be improved if they are coupled to radiant ceiling panels circulating water chilled by evaporative cooling in the pond. The objectives of this study, conducted at an experimental facility in Sde-Boqer, Negev Desert, Israel, were to demonstrate the operation of such a system in practice and to evaluate its cooling performance. Volunteers exposed to two distinct thermal environments—a room cooled by a roof-pond system coupled to ceiling-mounted radiant panels, and a nearly identical room cooled by a conventional split air-conditioning system—were consistently able to sense differences between the two rooms, which had nominally similar thermal conditions (calculated by their respective PMVs).