Performance of an air radiative cooling system in a residential building in Chile

This paper analyses the performance of a low energy radiative cooling system in Chile. The cooling potential of these systems has not been addressed at all in the context of Chile's varied and complex climatic reality. For this purpose, an air radiative cooling system has been installed in an experimental housing prototype in the Valparaíso region. Ambient conditions, as well as the system variables evolution, have been measured along a complete summer week. Using this set of data and an analytical model, the paper describes the influence of the different parts (e.g., specialized radiator, thermal mass, heat transportation subsystem, and terminal unit) on the performance of the complete system, as well as its coupling with the indoor environment. The experimental results show that with this system, the ambient temperature can be lowered more than 5◦C. Furthermore, it is experimentally proven that the system dissipates 50 W/m² when it reaches its maximum potential, and 4.3 MJ during the one-week functioning period. This job is the initial step towards a mature cooling system; thus, the next steps include several modifications and upgrades that need to be experimentally tested.