Thermal and energy analysis of ceiling and pitch insulation for buildings in Malaysia

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the benefits of pitch insulation and ceiling insulation for air-conditioned buildings in the tropical climate of Malaysia. These are performed via computer simulations using a whole-building thermal energy software Integrated Environmental Solution (IES) with Apache Sim 6.0.2. The benefits are appraised by the thermal impact and the cooling load in three cooling modes due to the pitch insulation and ceiling insulation. The three cooling modes are 24-hr cooling, daytime and night-time cooling. The simulation is performed using the Subang weather data for the month of March that represents the hottest month in typical year weather data in Malaysia. Results show that advantage and the disadvantage of the insulation are more evident in the attic than in the indoor space underneath the ceiling. Compared to the non-insulated roof, pitch insulation reduces the daytime attic temperature up to 6.9°C but only about 0.4°C for the indoor. On the contrary, ceiling insulation elevates daytime attic temperature up to 2.2 °C but lowers the indoor temperature up to 0.8°C. Both insulations create adverse temporal effect in both spaces, however the advantage outweighs the disadvantage. Despite nominal thermal improvements, the month savings on the cooling load of about 6–24 % is noteworthy.