Shikang Wen / 温世康

Shikang Wen / 温世康

Research in building energy, computational design, and intelligent built environments.

Advanced terminal devices and heat pumps across Chinese climates

Published research May 2025

Overview

This project examined how advanced HVAC terminal devices and heat-pump configurations perform in a medium-sized office building across China’s five climate zones.

Schematic of the air-handling path from outdoor air through pre-filter and coil to the room, with high-lift and low-lift heat pumps serving the terminals.
System boundary: a shared air-handling path with alternative terminal devices and heat-pump configurations.

Method

Radiant ceiling panels and gravity cabinet units were compared with conventional fan-coil units under alternative heat-pump configurations. EnergyPlus simulation and life-cycle cost analysis were used to evaluate energy consumption, payback periods, net present value, and sensitivity to internal loads.

Grouped bar charts of annual energy consumption by end use for Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai, Kunming, and Shenzhen under each terminal system.
Annual energy consumption by end use across the five climate zones.

Key findings

Radiant ceiling panels reduced energy use by 16-24%, while gravity cabinet units achieved reductions of 8-11%, primarily through lower fan energy. Both systems performed more efficiently in colder climates. Radiant systems offered greater savings but higher initial costs and 10-17-year paybacks; gravity cabinet units recovered their costs in under 12 years across the studied climates.

Stacked bar chart of energy consumption for fan coil, gravity cabinet, and radiant ceiling terminals under two heat-pump types, annotated with reductions up to 19.7 percent.
Energy consumption by terminal type and heat-pump configuration, relative to the fan-coil baseline.
Four-panel chart of total cost, utility cost savings, payback period, and net present value for gravity cabinet and radiant ceiling systems in each city.
Life-cycle cost outcomes: total cost, utility savings, payback period, and net present value.

Contribution

Conceptualization, data curation, methodology, software, visualization, and original-draft writing.