According to Techxplore, researchers at Drexel University have developed an innovative new way to make heating and cooling buildings more energy-efficient by being inspired by the ears of the elephants.
About 50% of the energy consumption of a building are due to a convenient temperature in the building. This energy consumption accounts for almost 40% of total energy consumption and contributes significantly to the creation of heat release gases in the atmosphere.
While there are opportunities to reduce the energy consumption of a building, such as: B. advanced insulation, the strengthening of windows, walls and ceilings is to better absorb and keep the heat.
However, researchers at Drexel University have recently published research in the Journal of Building Engineering on the concept she created, which was inspired by elephant ears and our own circulatory system. The concept sees a nascular network that is embedded in based building materials. If the network is filled with a material based on paraffin, it helps to maintain blankets, walls and floors to maintain their surface temperature.
The researchers were also inspired by the Advanced Infrastructure Materials Lab in Farnam. Farnam's research focus is on the creation of more durable infrastructure materials with nature -chosen methods. As such, they have developed self -healing concrete and concrete that use phase change material to melt ice and snow.
The researchers at Drexel University examined several developments by Farnam and used a printed polymer matrix to reproduce a vascular system in concrete via a grid of channels. They then decided to fill these channels with a phase change material.
The paraffin base used in the vascular network absorbs and promotes thermal energy when it moves between solid and liquid conditions. When the temperatures become colder, the material of liquid is too tight and released heat. Alternatively, when the temperatures are warmed up, the material based on paraffin base absorbs heat and makes the surface of the concrete cooler.
For his experiment, the research team developed several cement samples with different vascular networks to determine that worked best. The sample with a diamond -shaped network proved to be the most effective.
Robin Deb, Ph.D., co-author of research, said to Techxplore: “We may not surprisingly find that a more vascular surface area corresponds to a better thermal performance. This observation is similar to the physiology of elephant and jackrab-ears that contain extensive vascular areas to help their body temperature.”
If this concept proves to be useful in the long term, it can help reduce energy bills for those who live in buildings that are manufactured with this material, and at the same time reduce the amount of damage buildings that help to cool the planet.
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However, future research is still necessary to see how this concept is. The research team plans to test other phase change materials and larger cement samples over longer periods and different environmental temperatures to see how things work in the long term.
As Amir Farnam, Ph.D., a provider of research, told Techxplore: “While this study should prove proof of the concept, these results are promising and something we can build on.”
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