Fluid-Integrated Glass-Glass Laminate for Sustainable Hydronic Cooling and Indoor Air Conditioning

More than 20% of the global energy demands are caused by heating, ventilating, and air conditioning in buildings. In particular during summer seasons and in warm climates, cooling loads are mostly neutralized by conventional air-conditioning systems. Due to often very low primary temperature, these require high energy input, cause significant noise, uncomfortably cool draughts, and vertical air temperature gradients. Here, an energy efficient planar cooling device for large area integration with building interiors is presented. The system is based on a thin glass–glass capillary element and enables indoor temperature conditioning with a very low temperature gradient. The cooling ability of the device is demonstrated on a prototype scale of ≈0.5 m². Computational predictions based on the obtained results show that by implementing the present system in a 24 m² office room located in Central Europe with a window to floor ratio of 0.42, the specific cooling load could reach up to 80 W m^-2 in summer. This corresponds to an effective indoor air temperature reduction by up to about 15 °C. In comparison to other hydronic systems, the present device provides significantly more freedom regarding design, layout, and functionality of modern buildings.