Hybrid energy system cools and generates electricity and hot water

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Hybrid energy system cools and generates electricity and hot water | heise online

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Summers are getting hotter and hotter, and anyone living under the roof appreciates good insulation and air conditioning. A team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed a system for roofs and facades that not only prevents the masonry underneath from heating up.

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The system combines photovoltaics with solar thermal energy and passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC). This means it not only cools but also supplies electricity and hot water. “We show that a single system can simultaneously harness the sun and the cold of space”, said Gan Huang, head of the working group.

The central element of the system is a transparent silicon dioxide plate coated with the silicone polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The layer reflects heat into space in the form of infrared radiation. The infrared radiation is in a wavelength range in which the Earth's atmosphere is particularly permeable to heat radiation.

Sunlight generates electricity and heat

Sunlight, on the other hand, passes through this layer largely unimpeded. It is focused onto a photovoltaic-thermal collector, which supplies electricity and heat. The team describes the system in the journal Cell Reports Physical Science.

In field tests, the prototype cooled up to 6.5 degrees Celsius below ambient temperature. The electrical power density of the photovoltaic-thermal collector was 60.6 watts per square meter. For heat utilization, the system supplied temperatures of up to 110.8 degrees Celsius.

The new system is a further development of a predecessor from 2024, which only cooled. In the new prototype, the utilization of sunlight has been added, so that “a multifunctional energy system has been created from a single surface”, said Huang.

Linking opposing processes

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The biggest problem was linking two opposing processes: the solar collector should absorb as much solar energy as possible, while the radiative cooler should remain as cool as possible.

“We solved this problem by having the sunlight first penetrate the transparent cooling layer, and only underneath does a Fresnel lens concentrate the light onto a much smaller solar collector. This keeps the hot solar collector and the cooling layer spatially separated”, explained lead author Iván Alberto Cruz García.

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“Our vision is for roofs and facades to become active energy surfaces that provide electricity, heat, and cooling simultaneously”, said Huang. “The concept could also be of interest for energy-intensive applications such as AI data centers, which require a lot of electricity and cooling.”

(wpl)

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This article was originally published in

German.

It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication.

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