MIT researchers advance cooling technology that does not use electricity - Interesting Engineering
Researchers at the Massachusetts Insititute of Technology have further advanced the technology used to achieve passive cooling — a method that does not require electricity at all.The system combines two standalone passive cooling technologies that have been used previously and then added thermal insulation to provide significantly more cooling, which hasn't been achieved before.The cooling thus achieved could be used to store food for 40 percent longer under humid conditions and thrice longer under dryer conditions, the press release claimed.The technology can also be used to lower the load that air conditioning compressors go through by cooling them.Previous attempts at using passive cooling have gained partial success since the evaporative materials used in the process would heat up under the Sun and be unable to provide sufficient cooling.To overcome these shortcomings, here, we present insulated cooling with evaporation and radiation (ICER), which utilizes a solar-reflecting layer; an infrared-emitting evaporative layer; and an infrared-transparent, solar-reflecting, and vapor-permeable insulation layer.