Abstract

The decarbonisation of buildings requires a transition from space-based heating towards occupant-centric solutions capable of reducing energy de-mand while maintaining thermal comfort. Personal Comfort Systems (PCS), and in particular radiant desk-based systems, offer a promising approach by deliver-ing localised heating directly to the user. However, existing designs typically rely on uniform heat distribution across the desk surface, leading to inefficient energy use and limited control over thermal delivery. This paper presents the design and optimisation of a low-power radiant heated desk, combining ergonomic analysis, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, and prototype development. The proposed approach focuses on spatially redistributing heat to align with user interaction zones, reducing unnecessary heating in non-critical areas. CFD results show that the optimised configuration maintains comparable thermal comfort conditions to the original design despite a significant reduction in heated surface area. Experimental validation of the prototype demonstrates a reduction in power consumption from 209 W to 136 W, while achieving controlled surface temper-atures suitable for both user comfort and device safety. The findings highlight the potential of spatially optimised PCS to support low-energy building operation through targeted thermal conditioning.