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Radiative sky cooling-assisted thermoelectric cooling system for building applications

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  • Zhao, Dongliang
  • Yin, Xiaobo
  • Xu, Jingtao
  • Tan, Gang
  • Yang, Ronggui

Abstract

Thermoelectric cooling suffers from low energy conversion efficiency (i.e., COP) which is a major bottleneck that hurdles its wide application, especially for large-scale systems. The COP of thermoelectric cooling system can be improved by integrating with other technologies. Due to its “free” nature, radiative sky cooling technology can potentially be integrated with thermoelectric cooling to obtain much higher system COP. This study introduces a novel radiative sky cooling-assisted thermoelectric cooling (RSC-TEC) system. The system has four different working modes under different operating conditions. A case study has been conducted for a two-story residential building that has 223 m2 living zone area located in Los Angeles, USA. Sensitivity analysis is first performed to size the system parameters. It is shown that the RSC-TEC system with a 0.83 m3 cold storage tank, 32 m2 radiative cooling surface area, and 101 thermoelectric modules (Laird ZT8-12), could achieve annual cooling COP of 1.87. Further analysis showed that daytime and nighttime cooling of the radiative sky cooling subsystem contribute to 55.0% and 45.0% of annual cold generation (heat dissipation) respectively, which indicates the critical importance of daytime cooling. The RSC-TEC system demonstrates a potential solution for large-scale adoption of the thermoelectric cooling technology.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhao, Dongliang & Yin, Xiaobo & Xu, Jingtao & Tan, Gang & Yang, Ronggui, 2020. "Radiative sky cooling-assisted thermoelectric cooling system for building applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:190:y:2020:i:c:s0360544219320171
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.116322
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    Cited by:

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    3. Alimohammadian, Mehdi & Dinarvand, Saeed & Mahian, Omid, 2022. "Innovative strategy of passive sub-ambient radiative cooler through incorporation of a thermal rectifier to double-layer nanoparticle-based coating," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
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    5. Liao, Tianjun & Xu, Qidong & Dai, Yawen & Cheng, Chun & He, Qijiao & Ni, Meng, 2022. "Radiative cooling-assisted thermoelectric refrigeration and power systems: Coupling properties and parametric optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    6. Hu, Tianxiang & Kwan, Trevor Hocksun & Pei, Gang, 2022. "An all-day cooling system that combines solar absorption chiller and radiative cooling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 831-844.
    7. Duan, Mengfan & Sun, Hongli & Lin, Borong & Wu, Yifan, 2021. "Evaluation on the applicability of thermoelectric air cooling systems for buildings with thermoelectric material optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    8. Chi, Fang'ai & Liu, Yang & Yan, Jianxiong, 2021. "Integration of Radiative-based air temperature regulating system into residential building for energy saving," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 301(C).
    9. Wong, Ross Y.M. & Tso, C.Y. & Chao, Christopher Y.H., 2021. "Thermo-radiative energy conversion efficiency of a passive radiative fluid cooling system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 700-711.
    10. Wong, Ross Y.M. & Tso, C.Y. & Jeong, S.Y. & Fu, S.C. & Chao, Christopher Y.H., 2023. "Critical sky temperatures for passive radiative cooling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 214-226.

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