Work

Open-hardware platform for synchronous performance testing of multiple passive radiative cooling materials

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The growing interest in passive radiative cooling (PRC) poses a pressing need for standardized and accessible methods to compare the performance of different material. Here, we report on the development of FRESCO-board, a low-cost, open-hardware platform providing continuous monitoring of temperature drop (T Drop ) and net cooling power (P Cool ) for multiple PRC materials at the same time. The proposed platform is further equipped with multiple sensors monitoring ambient temperature, humidity, solar irradiation, and sky temperature, an important and yet rarely measured quantity that is strongly correlated with the instantaneous radiative cooling performance. An integrated display and Wi-Fi module allow streaming real-time data to a web application or a Grafana dashboard linked to the InfluxDB database. The availability of a portable and affordable testing platform can streamline access to this multidisciplinary research field, enabling research groups to develop and compare new materials, gaining insights into their performance under different in-field conditions.

Source: Cell Reports Physical Science

DOI: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2025.102688

Authors: Jérémy Werlé, Roberto Concas, Ernesto Pini, Diederik S. Wiersma, Lorenzo Pattelli, Giuseppe Emanuele Lio

Institutions: European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Istituto Nazionale di Ricerca Metrologica, University of Florence

Language: English

Topic: Thermal Radiation and Cooling Technologies

Subfield: Civil and Structural Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Affordable and clean energy

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $5,620