Quantitative characterization of the effect of inclination angle on flat-plate radiative cooling performance in buildings

Hu, Mingke; Zhao, Bin; Suhendri; Cao, Jingyu; Wang, Qiliang; Riffat, Saffa; Su, Yuehong; Pei, Gang

Abstract

The environment-friendly and energy-free nature of radiative sky cooling fosters its application in buildings where a radiative cooler is usually positioned at a tilted angle. However, though the cooling capacity of various radiative cooling materials placed horizontally is extensively explored, their performance when mounted with an inclination angle are generally unclear. Therefore, the present work carried out an outdoor experimental investigation on quantitatively uncovering the relationship between the cooling capacity of the flat-plate radiative cooler and its inclination angle. Generally, the cooling performance deteriorates at elevated inclination angles, but the deteriorating tendency is not always linearly. The inclination angle shows relatively weak influences on the cooling performance when less than 20°. The two key performance indicators, sub-ambient emitter temperature drop and net radiative cooling power, decrease by about 50% when the inclination angle increases to 70° and 73°, respectively. Both indicators drop by around 66.7% when the inclination angle increases to 90° from 0°. This study may pave the way for predicting the cooling potential of building-integrated devices such as pitched roof-mounted radiative coolers, radiative cooling-regulated smart windows, radiative cooling-assisted solar photovoltaic panels, etc.

Citation

Hu, M., Zhao, B., Suhendri, Cao, J., Wang, Q., Riffat, S., …Pei, G. (2022). Quantitative characterization of the effect of inclination angle on flat-plate radiative cooling performance in buildings. Journal of Building Engineering, 59, Article 105124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105124

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 11, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Aug 15, 2022
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 5, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 16, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Building Engineering
• Electronic ISSN: 2352-7102
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 59
• Article Number: 105124
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.105124
• Keywords: Mechanics of Materials; Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality; Building and Construction; Architecture; Civil and Structural Engineering
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/10629104
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352710222011317