A heat exchanger element for being in contact with a gas includes a solid surface coated with a layer of a predetermined material. The layer is configured to enhance the heat transfer between the solid surface and the gas by thermo-acoustic impedance matching.

Polymer-based selective radiative cooling structures are provided which include a selectively emissive layer of a polymer or a polymer matrix composite material. Exemplary selective radiative cooling structures are in the form of a sheet, film or coating. Also provided are methods for removing heat from a body by selective thermal radiation using polymer-based selective radiative cooling structures.

A radiant cooling system comprises an enclosure, a cooling element and a cooling device. The enclosure includes a first wall that is transmissive of infrared radiation. The cooling element is disposed in the enclosure. The cooling device is coupled to the cooling element. The cooling element provides cooling mainly by radiative exchange. The system promotes cooling by radiative exchange and significantly reduces condensation problems and is compatible with open and enclosed spaces. Thermal losses of cooling power to conductive and convective pathways are significantly reduced. The system comes in a variety of forms including flat, cylindrical and dome-like geometries.

Systems according to the present disclosure provide one or more surfaces that function as heat or power radiating surfaces for which at least a portion of the radiating surface includes or is composed of fractal cells placed sufficiently closed close together to one another so that a surface (plasmonic) wave causes near replication of current present in one fractal cell in an adjacent fractal cell. A fractal of such a fractal cell can be of any suitable fractal shape and may have two or more iterations. The fractal cells may lie on a flat or curved sheet or layer and be composed in layers for wide bandwidth or multibandwidth transmission. The area of a surface and its number of fractals determines the gain relative to a single fractal cell. The boundary edges of the surface may be terminated resistively so as to not degrade the cell performance at the edges.

The present disclosure provides a photovoltaic module, which comprises a photon absorbing material comprising a solar cell; The photovoltaic module also comprises a glass material positioned within a plane and being positioned over the photon absorbing material such that in use light is incident on the glass material and the glass material transmits light towards the photon absorbing material, the glass material having a front surface facing away from the photon absorbing material. The front surface of the glass material has a shape which is profiled such that the emittance of infrared light from the front surface of the glass material is increased compared to that of a flat front surface, the emittance of the infrared light being associated with absorbance of infrared light that is incident upon the front surface. A rear backing sheet of the photovoltaic module may have a shape that is profiled in a corresponding manner.

A radiative cooling device that can cool a cooling target appropriately with cost reduction of its light reflective layer.

An infrared radiative layer for radiating infrared light from a radiative surface and a light reflective layer located on the opposite side of the presence side of the radiative surface of the infrared radiative layer are provided in a mutually stacked manner. The light reflective layer is arranged such that a first layer made of silver or silver alloy and a second layer made of aluminum or aluminum alloy are stacked, with the first layer being disposed on the side close to the infrared radiative layer.

The invention relates to a plate heat exchanger (10) having a plate heat exchanger block (11), which has a plurality of partitions (4, 5) arranged parallel to one another in the form of separating plates which form a plurality of heat exchange passages (1a, 1b) for fluids which are to be brought into indirect heat exchange relationship with one another. The heat exchange passages are closed off from the outside by lateral strips (8), and each heat exchange passage (1a, 1b) has an inlet (9) for inflow of a fluid and an outlet (19) for outflow of the fluid. According to the invention, one or more partitions (4, 5) and/or one or more heat-conducting elements (2, 3) in each case have a coating (41) made of a heat-insulating material. The invention further relates to a method for producing a polymer laminate and to a method for joining prefabricated polymer components to each other.

Using thermal radiation to supply occupant comfort has long existed in the heating domain, and to a lesser scale in the cooling domain. Cooling power of radiant cooling systems is limited by the risk of condensation on the panel itself, as well as adjacent surfaces. Similarly, convective system losses to the ambient air prevent maintaining a large temperature difference from the surface and the surroundings. The disclosed approach combats these common pitfalls of radiant cooling systems in the building domain, increasing the power and therefore applicability of radiant cooling.

Systems according to the present disclosure provide one or more surfaces that function as power radiating surfaces for which at least a portion of the radiating surface includes or is composed of fractal cells placed sufficiently closed close together to one another so that a surface wave causes near replication of current present in one fractal cell in an adjacent fractal cell. The fractal cells may lie on a flat or curved sheet or layer and be composed in layers for wide bandwidth or multibandwidth transmission. The area of a surface and its number of fractals determines the gain relative to a single fractal cell. The boundary edges of the surface may be terminated resistively so as to not degrade the cell performance at the edges. The fractal plasmonic surfaces can be utilized to facilitate electrical conduction with lower ohmic resistance than would otherwise be possible in the absence of the fractal plasmonic surface(s) at the same temperature.

Various embodiments may relate to a radiant cooler. The radiant cooler may include a chamber. The radiant cooler may also include a vacuum pump connected to the chamber. The radiant cooler may further include an infrared absorber arranged within the chamber. A wall of the chamber may be configured to allow at least a portion of infrared light to pass through. The vacuum pump may be configured to generate a vacuum in the chamber. The infrared absorber may include a fluid, i.e. a liquid, configured to evaporate into the vacuum upon receiving thermal energy from at least the portion of infrared light.