Solar-driven high temperature radiant cooling

Solar energy is widely used as one of the most important renewable energy. In addition to the growing applications of solar PV and solar water heater, solar cooling is also considered very valuable and the related researches are developing fast because of the synchronism between solar irradiance and building cooling load. Current studies mainly focus on the high temperature solar collector technique and heat-driven cooling technique, while little concern has been paid to the transport process of cooling power. In this paper, the high temperature radiant cooling is studied as an alternative way for transporting cooling power, and the performance of the combination of radiant ceiling and solar cooling is also studied. From simulation and theoretical analysis results, high temperature radiant cooling terminal shows better cooling power transportation ability against conventional air-conditioning terminal, and its thermal comfort is improved. Experiment results indicate that radiant cooling can enhance the chiller’s COP (Coefficient of Performance) by 17% and cooling power regeneration by 50%. According to analysis in this paper, high temperature radiant cooling is proved to be suitable for solar cooling system, and out work can serve as a reference for later system design and promotion. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50876064)