Integration of Radiative-based air temperature regulating system into residential building for energy saving

Roof space bears a considerable quantity of indoor thermal energy loss and solar energy gain, especially for the low-rise residential buildings, where heat transfer accounts for a large proportion. Radiative cooling strategy can cool an object, by emitting the thermal infrared irradiation passing through the atmospheric window into outer space. Furthermore, through utilization of solar energy, it contributes to improvement of the thermal comfort in the building's interior. Here, we proposed a radiative-based air temperature regulating system to achieve space heating and space cooling passively, through the radiative thermal transfer technique. Based on the residential building typology feature, the proposed system was integrated into the roof of a low-rise residential building. The proposed system was expected to achieve reductions in the thermal transfer of rooftop and the building energy consumption. Furthermore, two composition modes of modules were designed for the radiative-based air temperature regulating system, namely in parallel and in series. The heat exchange efficiency experimentations were conducted to both composition modes, aiming at exploring a better connection method for the modules. Moreover, the passive system was designed with two working modes, for improvement of the indoor thermal comfort throughout the year. Through rotations and movements for the modules, the operation mode of the proposed system can be changed flexibly. Via employing the proposed system, a total annual energy consumption difference of 3487 k.Wh between the base case and the study case was achieved, leading to the energy saving rate of 20%.

Automated summary

The article introduces a radiative-based air temperature regulating system that utilizes solar energy and thermal transfer technique passively to achieve space heating and cooling, improving the thermal comfort in buildings. The system includes two composition modes: parallel and series.