Performance evaluation of a novel building envelope integrated with thermoelectric cooler and radiative sky cooler

Xiaosong Su, Ling Zhang, Zhongbing Liu, Yongqiang Luo, Dapeng Chen and Weijiao Li

Renewable Energy, 2021, vol. 171, issue C, 1061-1078

Abstract: Heat loss or heat gain through building envelopes accounts for a large part of heating or cooling loads. The development of high-performance building envelopes is the key towards building energy efficiency. In this study, a novel building envelope integrated with thermoelectric cooler and radiative sky cooler (TEC-RSC) was proposed, not only for the elimination of heat gain through itself but also for space cooling. Considering the mismatched heat flux generated by radiative sky cooler and that by thermoelectric cooler, the spacing of thermoelectric elements in TEC-RSC was redesigned. To evaluate the performance of TEC-RSC, a global sensitivity analysis was conducted based on the TEC-RSC model. Four key parameters including direct current, area enlargement coefficient, thermoelectric element height and cross-sectional area were identified and their combined effects on TEC-RSC were analyzed. Through optimization design, the TEC-RSC can provide a cooling capacity of 25.49 W/m2 with a COP of 2.00 under the condition of global solar radiation of 1000 W/m2, ambient temperature of 35 °C and outdoor relative humidity of 60%. Further study shows that it can provide a cooling capacity of 35.05 W/m2 with an averaged COP of 3.01 in typical hot climate regions.

Keywords: Thermoelectric cooling; Radiative sky cooling; Building energy saving; Coefficient of performance; Cooling capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148121003438
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:171:y:2021:i:c:p:1061-1078

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2021.02.164

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().