Development of a PCM-Integrated Radiant Cold-Storage System: Radiative-Cooling Film, Water Tank Design, and Outdoor Performance Validation

Mingyang Liu (), Zhenming Li, Wei Liu, Yating Liu, Xiaokang Wu and Chong Xu
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Mingyang Liu: Energy Storage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Beijing 100192, China
Zhenming Li: Energy Storage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Beijing 100192, China
Wei Liu: Energy Storage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Beijing 100192, China
Yating Liu: Energy Storage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Beijing 100192, China
Xiaokang Wu: Energy Storage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Beijing 100192, China
Chong Xu: Energy Storage Research Institute, China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Beijing 100192, China

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 22, 1-18

Abstract: Outdoor environments typically require intensive cooling during the day, while nighttime cooling demands are comparatively modest. Conventional radiative-cooling systems deliver strong cooling at night but often underperform during daytime solar exposure. Here, we develop a PCM-integrated radiative cold-storage system (RCSS) that couples a polymer metasurface radiative-cooling (PMRC) film with a paraffin cold-storage tank via a helical-tube heat exchanger, and validate it through outdoor tests supplemented by CFD-based analysis. Under representative outdoor conditions, the RCSS cools circulating water at an average nighttime rate of 3.1 K h −1 and maintains stable performance for initial water temperatures of 25–55 °C. Using PMRC’s cooling power as the benchmark for effective radiative-cooling power, we quantify the system-level heat-transfer pathways and provide design sensitivities with respect to film area, exchanger geometry, and tank dimensions. The results establish a practical route to all-day thermal management by storing “cold” at night and releasing it on demand, thereby facilitating scalable deployment of radiative-cooling technologies.

Keywords: radiant cold-storage system; phase-change material; radiative tank; outdoor experiment; thermal-performance characterization (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: 2025
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