FURI | Fall 2019

Radiative Cooling Performance in LiF Samples and Observed Cooling of PVF Samples of Differing Thicknesses

Radiative cooling is a passive cooling method that uses space as a heat sink, making it an attractive area of study for cooling photovoltaics. The research group wanted to identify the process of radiative cooling in the semiconductive materials used in solar cells, determine if a relationship exists between the film thickness and it’s cooling capacity in polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) samples, and to quantify the cooling power output of a Lithium Fluoride (LiF) sample. These questions were explored by running various radiative cooling tests involving an apparatus that minimized alternative forms of heat transfer and mapped the sample temperature with that of the ambient temperature.