Cooling performance of all-orientated building facades integrated with photovoltaic-sky radiative cooling system in summer

Abstract

In response to the pressing need of urban high-rise high-density building sectors, the rapid development of energy-plus building façades in conjunction with power generators, such as building integrated photovoltaic/thermal systems (BIPV/T), has been regarded as one of the critical ways to achieve zero energy consumption buildings. Thermal dissipation technology based on building envelopes, on the other hand, is scarce, and building-integrated solar technologies are mostly focused on rooftop PV/T systems. Meanwhile, the ongoing solar heat collection on the south wall is insufficient to fulfill the summer interior cooling need. As a result, the current study suggests an all-oriented building facade combined with a photovoltaic-sky radiative cooling system (PV-RSC), with the PV module installed on the south wall and the sky radiative cooling system installed on the north wall. To investigate cooling performance, a numerical model for the energy transfer of PV-RSC systems is developed and verified. The results suggest that the PV-RSC system with a 0.61 m2 area has mean electrical and cooling powers of 7.7 W and 130–220 W, respectively, which would have a positive effect on the building cooling in the summer.