Enhancing energy-saving potential of radiative cooling by integrating with humidity control in hot-humid climates
Qihao Xu,
Qiang Zhang,
Dikai Xu,
Jingtao Xu,
Dongliang Zhao
Affiliations
Qihao Xu
School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China
Qiang Zhang
School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China
Dikai Xu
School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China; Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Jingtao Xu
Ningbo Ruiling Advanced Energy Materials Institute Co., Ltd, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315500, China
Dongliang Zhao
School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China; Institute of Science and Technology for Carbon Neutrality, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China; Engineering Research Center of Building Equipment, Energy, and Environment, Ministry of Education, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China; Corresponding author at: School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China.
For a long time, there have been abundant studies on the application of radiative cooling to save cooling energy, basically focused on solving sensible cooling loads. Although earlier research has achieved exciting results, there is also a requirement for further enhancing its energy-saving potential, especially in hot-humid climates that require humidity handling. A fiber-gel composite (FGC) that can simultaneously reduce sensible load and latent load is proposed. In field tests, the FGC could maintain the relative humidity in a chamber within the comfortable range between 45%RH to 65%RH during humid nighttime and could achieve 6 ºC more sub-ambient temperature reduction than a pure radiative cooler during hot daytime. By applying an FGC-based window, simulation results show that a building can save 11% more cooling energy compared to a pure radiative cooler in hot-humid climates.
