ShareUS researchers create film with cool benefits.
US researchers have developed a metamaterial they say could be used to help cool buildings without the use of energy or water.
Thanks to a $3m grant awarded in 2015 by the US Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), engineers at the University of Colorado Boulder created a new kind of cooling film made of a glass-polymer hybrid under a layer of silver.
This metamaterial is supposed to cool the object underneath by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space while simultaneously allowing the surface to shed its own heat in the form of infrared thermal radiation.
Because the material is about the same thickness as aluminium foil, it can be manufactured on rolls which would make it more adaptable and cost-effective for use in large-scale residential and commercial applications. The product could be applied on everything from residential buildings, to commercial buildings, data centres and power stations.
The engineers have applied for a patent for the technology and they are currently working on the project of a 200 square meter cooling farm prototype in Boulder.
For further information, please consult the Cooling Post website.
This metamaterial is supposed to cool the object underneath by reflecting the sun’s rays back into space while simultaneously allowing the surface to shed its own heat in the form of infrared thermal radiation.
Because the material is about the same thickness as aluminium foil, it can be manufactured on rolls which would make it more adaptable and cost-effective for use in large-scale residential and commercial applications. The product could be applied on everything from residential buildings, to commercial buildings, data centres and power stations.
The engineers have applied for a patent for the technology and they are currently working on the project of a 200 square meter cooling farm prototype in Boulder.
For further information, please consult the Cooling Post website.