Swiss student develops new ‘cooling curtain’
31/07/2017
He has explained that what piqued his interest was the idea of combining “opposing functions” in one material and, working in the institute’s functional materials laboratory, he combined two layers of hydrophobic polyurethane with a middle layer made from a hydrophilic polymer. The resulting membrane feels dry, although it is saturated with water, and since the outer layers are covered with holes of about one micrometre in diameter, water can escape from the middle layer into the environment.
“Water evaporation requires a lot of energy,” Mario Stucki has said. “Heat is extracted from the air, it cools and at the same time humidifies the surrounding area.” Conventional humidifiers work in the same way – but they need a lot of power, whereas his system is passive.
Curtains made using his method could be of great help to people living in hot and arid regions, ETH has said, offering them a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuel-powered air conditioning.
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