A Triple-Layer Membrane with Hybrid Evaporation and Radiation for Building Cooling

Mingran Mao, Chunzao Feng, Junxian Pei (), Huidong Liu and Haifeng Jiang ()
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Mingran Mao: MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Chunzao Feng: MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Junxian Pei: State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Water Resource & Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China
Huidong Liu: MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Haifeng Jiang: MOE Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Machinery Transients, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: Passive cooling for thermal comfort improvement has received extensive attention for its low energy consumption. However, most of the existing passive cooling technologies require a complex system design and supporting equipment, since they cool the ambient air. Herein, we propose a hybrid evaporative and radiative cooling membrane with a hygroscopic hydrogel sandwiched by two layers of a porous polyethylene aerogel (PEA). The hydrogel implements evaporative cooling. Combining the high solar reflection of PEA and the high infrared emissivity of hydrogel, this hybrid membrane also possesses radiative cooling. In addition, the high infrared transmittance and low thermal conductivity of PEA allow direct heat transfer between the hydrogel and human body, instead of the ambient air. Through comparative experiments and theoretical calculations, it is indicated that the net cooling power delivered by the hybrid membrane to the human body is up to 78.45 W m −2 , which is much higher than that of conventional radiative cooling materials. Outdoor demonstration shows that emission below the hybrid membrane can achieve an average sub-ambient temperature drop of 6 °C, with a maximum of 14 °C, showing great potential for passive building cooling and human personal cooling.

Keywords: building cooling; radiative cooling; evaporative cooling; passive cooling; polyethylene aerogel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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