Thermal Impact of 5G Antenna Systems in Sandwich Walls
Loading...
Access rights
openAccess
URL
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This publication is imported from Aalto University research portal.
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
View publication in the Research portal (opens in new window)
View/Open full text file from the Research portal (opens in new window)
Other link related to publication (opens in new window)
Authors
Lu, Tao
Vähä-Savo, Lauri
Lü, Xiaoshu
Haneda, Katsuyuki
Date
2023-03
Department
Department of Electronics and Nanoengineering
Department of Civil Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Language
en
Pages
17
Series
Energies, Volume 16, issue 6
Abstract
The 5th generation (5G) cellular networks offer high speeds, low latency, and greater capacity, but they face greater penetration loss through buildings than 4G due to their higher frequency bands. To reduce this loss in energy-efficient buildings, a passive antenna system was developed and integrated into sandwich walls. However, the thermal effects of this system, which includes highly thermally conductive metals, require further study. In this research, three-dimensional heat transfer simulations were performed using COMSOL Multiphysics to determine the thermal transmittances (U-values) of 5G antenna walls. The results revealed that, using stainless steel as the connector material (current design), the U-value rose from 0.1496 (for the wall without antenna) to 0.156 W/m2K, leading to an additional heating loss per year of only 0.545 KWh/m2 in Helsinki. In contrast, with the previous design that used copper as the connector material, the U-value increased dramatically to 0.3 W/m2K, exceeding the National Building Code of Finland’s limit of 0.17 W/m2K and causing 12.8 KWh/m2 additional heat loss (23.5 times more than the current design). The current design significantly reduces thermal bridging effects. Additionally, three analytical methods were used to calculate antenna wall U-values: parallel paths, isothermal planes, and ISO 6946 combined. The isothermal planes method was found to be more accurate and reliable. The study also found that a wall unit cell with a single developed 5G antenna and a wall consisting of nine such cells arranged in a 3 × 3 grid pattern had the same U-values. Furthermore, areas affected by thermal bridging were typically smaller than the dimensions of a wall unit cell (150 mm × 150 mm).Description
Funding Information: This research was funded by the Academy of Finland, project STARCLUB, grant number 324023. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Keywords
5G antenna walls, 5G passive antenna system, ISO 6946 combined method, isothermal planes method, numerical modeling, parallel path method, sandwich wall, thermal transmittance
Other note
Citation
Lu, T, Vähä-Savo, L, Lü, X & Haneda, K 2023, ' Thermal Impact of 5G Antenna Systems in Sandwich Walls ', Energies, vol. 16, no. 6, 2657 . https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062657