Good news! I write this blog post while our very old A/C is humming!
But this is so far only a proof of concept and a prototype!
"Researchers have made a cooling device that they say can chill environments with 50% of the energy used by conventional air conditioning.
They are using the physics of radiative cooling. ...
But it’s difficult to make them powerful enough, and hard to stop water in the atmosphere condensing on the surface of these cooling devices (like it does on a glass of cold water), lowering their performance further.
This research team ... developed a prototype radiant cooling device that could overcome these problems.
Their device uses a thermoelectric cooling module, which they describe as “in essence, a heat pump”, connected to 4 pipes and a fan on one side, and an aluminium panel on the other.
While the pipes and fan act as a heat sink, the aluminium panel is used to make a radiant surface extremely cold.
The researchers tested their device on a human skin simulator, and found it was able to cool the simulator by 7.3°C. ..."
From the highlights and abstract:
"Highlights
• A pure radiant cooling device for personalized thermal management
• A proof-of-concept prototype with thermoelectric cooler and polyethylene films
• Breakthrough in radiant cooling energy density (RCED) of up to 220 W/m2
• Energy saving ratio up to 50.4% in a typical building environment in summer
Summary
Ever since the birth of the first air conditioner (Carrier air conditioner) in 1902, over one hundred years ago, it has been accompanied by several technical problems, e.g.,
(1) low energy efficiency in large open spaces,
(2) spread of pollutants, airborne pandemic transmission (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], COVID-19) through air-conditioning systems, and (3) low comfort caused by fan noise and blowing sounds.
Here, we report a personalized pure radiant cooling device that decouples the fresh air supply from space cooling to achieve air conditioning without conditioning the air. Condensation-free radiant cooling with a radiant cooling capacity of 152 W/m2 is achieved with a polyethylene (PE) film-covered super-cold infrared-emissive surface. By optimizing the design and operation parameters, the device saves up to 50.4% of cooling energy in a typical summer building environment. Our concept opens up the possibility of pandemic-free personalized thermal management with high energy efficiency and thermal comfort."
(1) low energy efficiency in large open spaces,
(2) spread of pollutants, airborne pandemic transmission (e.g., severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], COVID-19) through air-conditioning systems, and (3) low comfort caused by fan noise and blowing sounds.
Here, we report a personalized pure radiant cooling device that decouples the fresh air supply from space cooling to achieve air conditioning without conditioning the air. Condensation-free radiant cooling with a radiant cooling capacity of 152 W/m2 is achieved with a polyethylene (PE) film-covered super-cold infrared-emissive surface. By optimizing the design and operation parameters, the device saves up to 50.4% of cooling energy in a typical summer building environment. Our concept opens up the possibility of pandemic-free personalized thermal management with high energy efficiency and thermal comfort."
Graphical abstract
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