The US researchers foresee film applications in building exteriors and possibly bottles

Self-cooling drinks bottles could emerge out of technology being developed by researchers in the US that uses the sun’s energy to both heat and cool. Research centres on thin-film technology that attaches both solar cells and heat pumps onto surfaces such as windows and doors turning them into climate control systems.

The research team at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in New York, has been working on their prototype Active Building Envelope (ABE) system for the past four years. Their ABE works silently, has no moving parts and is comprised of solar panels, solid-state, thermoelectric heat pumps and a storage device to provide energy on rainy days.

Research team leader, Steven Van Dessel, said that thin-film advances could potentially lead to functional thermal coatings composed of transparent ABE systems. ABE systems have potential applications in a range of industries from aerospace — in advanced thermal control systems in future space missions — to the automotive industry in windshields and sun roofs.

Van Dessel said: “The ease of application would make it possible to seamlessly attach the system to various building surfaces, possibly rendering conventional air conditioning and heating equipment obsolete. “It also may be possible to one day use the ABE system to create packaging materials for thermal control, which could lead to things like self-cooling soda bottles.”