Effect of surface corrugation on cooling capacity of ceiling panel

•A simple method of ceiling panel cooling capacity enhancement is presented.•Cooling capacities of flat and corrugated ceiling cooling surfaces are compared.•Credible experimental results are presented.•A concept of cuvette-type-laboratory cooling ceiling panel is described. In this paper surface corrugation as a method of capacity enhancement of ceiling panels is presented. The triangular corrugation shape was analyzed. Influence of corrugation length L and corrugation angle β on panel cooling capacity was investigated theoretically. The calculation model was validated experimentally. In calculations the range of corrugation length L was from 30 mm to 120 mm, and the range of corrugation angle β was from 30° to 180°. In experiments the values of the above parameters were: L = 0.04 m, β = 90°, and β = 180°. A special cuvette-type-laboratory panel was used to obtain nearly uniform temperature distribution at the entire cooling surface. The width and length of the laboratory panel were 380 mm and 1502 mm, respectively. The panel surface emissivity was ɛ = 0.9. Calculations have shown that in the typical room conditions the cooling power of the panel with small values L = 30 mm and β = 30° can achieve even 121 W/m2 and it can be up to 90% higher than the specific power of a reference panel with a flat surface. For geometry more desirable from an operating point of view: L = 40 mm and β = 90°, both experimental and theoretical results have shown that the cooling power of the corrugated surface increased by 15÷20% compared to a traditional flat surface. A physical interpretation of the regularities found is presented.