TROY, N.Y. - Three years ago a team of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute researchers began developing an "intelligent" solar heating and cooling system designed to radiate heat from the walls of a home in the winter and emit cool temperatures in the summer. Today the same team is exploring the likelihood of increasing the system's efficiency and adaptability by reducing it to the micrometer scale. A $300,000, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will fund the research.
Developed by Steven Van Dessel, assistant professor of architecture at Rensselaer, the patented Active Building Envelope (ABE) system uses a photovoltaic (PV) system to collect and convert sunlight into electricity. That power is then delivered to a series of thermoelectric (TE) heat pumps that are integrated into a building envelope (the walls, windows, and roof). Depending on the direction of the electric current supplied to the TE heat pump system, the sun's energy can actively be used to make the inside space warmer or cooler. An energy storage mechanism is also integrated to collect extra energy for use when little or no sunlight is available.