English

Concentrated Radiative Cooling

Applied Physics 2020-10-07 v1

Abstract

A fundamental limit of current radiative cooling systems is that only the top surface facing deep-space can provide the radiative cooling effect, while the bottom surface cannot. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a concept of "concentrated radiative cooling" by nesting a radiative cooling system in a mid-infrared reflective trough, so that the lower surface, which does not contribute to radiative cooling in previous systems, can radiate heat to deep-space via the reflective trough. Field experiments show that the temperature drop of a radiative cooling pipe with the trough is more than double that of the standalone radiative cooling pipe. Furthermore, by integrating the concentrated radiative cooling system as a preconditioner in an air conditioning system, we predict electricity savings of >75%>75\% in Phoenix, AZ, and >80%>80\% in Reno, NV, for a single-story commercial building.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2010.02426,
  title  = {Concentrated Radiative Cooling},
  author = {Joseph Peoples and Yu-Wei Hung and Xiangyu Li and Daniel Gallagher and Nathan Fruehe and Anil Yuksel and James Braun and Travis Horton and Xiulin Ruan},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2010.02426},
  year   = {2020}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T19:04:12.864Z