Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics (IBP) have developed an alternative to air conditioning that uses ceiling panels covered in a special heat-conducting film. The system offers hygienic cooling even in tropical climates and uses up to 70% less energy than other cooling systems, Fraunhofer says.
The system can cool a typical room in approximately three minutes. Image credit: ©Alexander Buff/Fraunhofer IBP.A key to the technology is that the heat-conducting polymer film operates well below the dew point and so avoids the problem of condensation. When applied to multifunctional ceiling panels, it has the same effect as insulating glass, according to Fraunhofer.
The surfaces of the ceiling panels, approximately two square meters in size, absorb the ambient heat in a process that is noiseless and free of drafts. Ceiling panels can be cooled at the push of a button or by means of a motion sensor, and in about three minutes they generate a cool climate in the room beneath them.
Approximately two square meters in size, the ceiling panels can be combined flexibly and taken down and re-installed elsewhere. Doubling as LED lighting panels, the modular system also provides illumination. The sheets of film are individually printable and replaceable.
Interpanel GmbH, a spin-off company established by Fraunhofer IBP, plans to begin selling the system in mid-2017.
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