Summers in some countries is not exactly comfortable. Whether in the dry climates of the interior or in the humid climates of the coast, during the hottest hours it is inevitable to think that the situation is unsustainable in the long term and that it is necessary for the summer to end. Especially in very hot houses, with many windows and where the sun beats mercilessly for a good part of the day. However, now they seem to have invented a glass capable of cooling rooms and that also cleans itself every time it rains, which is a leap forward in quality of life.
A commitment to intimacy and freshness
Spain is an incredibly bright place. The sun allows us to have much longer hours than the rest of Europe. However, heat is one of the main enemies of our country, especially with the rise in temperatures, which has caused more and more people to choose to have air conditioners in their homes. Open windows allow heat to pass through, and this is something that looks set to end, according to the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, as they report in a new article.
To do this, they have invented a new Polymer-Based Microphotonic Functional Metamaterial or PMMM. Thus, this new design allows light to pass through our windows while maintaining a great level of privacy while being able to keep the room cool and, most surprisingly, it is able to clean itself as it is a hydrophobic surface.
PMMM is a very thin film of a modified metamaterial that can be glued to normal glass. The key to its success lies in the microscopic structure, as it has a pattern of 10-micron-wide pyramids that scatter 73% of the light that hits them. Because of this, the glass appears slightly opaque but is more transparent to the light than ordinary glass. While our usual crystals allow 91% of the light to pass through, this strange object allows 95% of the transmittance.
Although it allows light to pass through, the truth is that it does not let in those dazzling rays that we usually avoid thanks to curtains. In addition, it has been shown that it allows plants to feed better on the sun’s rays than with conventional glass, and that their photosynthesis increases by 9% compared to usual.
The good news about all of this is that it allows you to cool rooms without the need for air conditioning. It radiates heat to the outside through radiative cooling, which is capable of cooling the room up to 6º more than it would under more normal circumstances. This guarantees us better control of the temperature of our home at a much cheaper price than maintaining an air conditioner.
Science has been working on this type of invention for a long time. Different groups are working on windows capable of cooling homes, which is increasingly important due to the need to fight rising temperatures with all the weapons we have at our disposal. However, there are also cheap and accessible air conditioners that are very revolutionary and capable of lowering the temperature up to 18 degrees. It is a point of development and research in which more and more investment is being made to maintain optimal conditions in our homes.
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