RC- VIP: Deep Refrigeration Temperatures over 24h with Radiatively Cooled-Vacuum Insulation Panels

Started

Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research(Energy system analysis)
Energy Efficiency(Residential and commercial)
Energy Efficiency(Transport)
Energy Efficiency(Industry)

Basic and strategic applied research

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Physics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting
Systems Analysis related to energy R&D

Dr I Papakonstantinou
Electronic and Electrical Engineering
University College London

Standard

EPSRC

01 August 2025

31 July 2030

60 months

£2,174,371

Unknown

London

Frontier Grants - Advanced

Dr I Papakonstantinou, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London

Cooling is a fundamental means to preserve peoples' good-health and well-being. Yet, it is one of the most energy demanding anthropogenic activities with global demand forecasted to increase manifold in the near future. Accordingly, we are called upon to resolve a great paradox whereby, reversing climate change necessitates strides to energy efficiency and elimination of greenhouse emissions, amid exploding demand for energy intensive processes like cooling. An emerging solution to this conundrum is passive daytime radiative cooling. The process elegantly leverages the cold Universe, converting it into an inexhaustible heatsink for the thermal radiation from objects on Earth. The cooling power current state-of-art systems achieve is enough to lower their temperature by typically 3-5°C. Compare with the fundamental limits of the technology though - 50-60°C below ambient - and it becomes obvious that today's operating point is at least an order of magnitude below the true technological potential. The bottleneck in current systems lies with the conductive and convective parasitic heat losses. Should these losses be eliminated, radiatively cooled surfaces would be freed up to equilibrate at refrigeration temperatures. To accomplish this task, advanced thermal engineering solutions will be developed, inspired by cutting-edge vacuum insulation, aerogel, nanophotonic and organic electronic encapsulation technologies. As they stand however, none of these technologies are directly compatible with radiative cooling. As such, every single component has to be radically rethought and meticulously redesigned, creating in the process a breakthrough new technology termed the Radiatively Cooled - Vacuum Insulation Panel (RC-VIP). By fully exploiting this platform technology, literally any cooling "hungry" sector can be targeted for decarbonization: the built and transport environments, data-centres, food coldchains, cooling in industrial and life-science applications, and so on

29/10/25