Abstract
Thermal energy management, especially cooling, is becoming increasingly important in today’s high energy consumption world. Passive cooling, which does not require additional energy consumption, could be an effective approach to thermal energy management. We analyzed spectral selective thermal emitters by investigating the performance of a type of passive cooling known as radiative cooling. Our results can be used to improve radiative cooling. As we can control the radiation characteristics of Metal-dielectric-metal (MDM) structures, we developed an MDM-based spectral selective emitter. We measured the spectral emissivity of the fabricated MDM structure in the direction of the zenith and at an incline. We also simulated structures of different sizes to determine the effect of varying the size of the structure on the emissivity. Finally, we calculated the radiative cooling performance of the selectively emissive surface. In these calculations, we considered temperature changes caused by atmospheric and surface radiation. The radiative cooling performance of our MDM-based spectral selective emitter was better than the cooling performance of a non-selective emitter. The surface temperature of the best MDM spectral selective emitter was 38 °C below the ambient temperature.
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This paper was presented at the ISFMFE 2016, LOTTE City Hotel, Jeju, Korea, October 18–22, 2016. Recommended by Guest Editor Hyung Hee Cho.
Hwanseong Lee received a B.S. (2011) degree in mechanical engineering from Yonsei University, Korea. He is a Ph.D. degree candidate in mechanical engineering at Yonsei University. His research interests are in the areas of thermal emission control using thermal plasmonic structure.
Taehwan Kim received B.S. (2010) and Ph.D. (2016) degrees in mechanical engineering from Yonsei University, Korea. Dr. Kim is currently Research Professor in Yonsei University, Korea. His research interests are in the areas of thermal emission reduction and evaluation.
Maremi, Fekadu Tolessa received B.Ed. (2009) and M.S. (2011) degrees in theoretical physics from Aksum and Dilla University, Ethiopia. Currently, he is Ph.D. student in Yonsei University, Korea. His research interests are in the area of electromagnetic harvesting and selective thermal emitter for thermophotovoltaic.
Hyung Hee Cho received his B.S. (1982) degree from Seoul National University, Korea. He received M.S. (1985) degree from Seoul National University and Ph.D. (1992) from Minnesota University, USA. Dr. Cho is currently a Professor at the school of Mechanical Engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.
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Lee, H., Kim, T., Tolessa, M.F. et al. Enhancing radiative cooling performance using metal-dielectric-metal metamaterials. J Mech Sci Technol 31, 5107–5112 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-1004-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-017-1004-5