Passive Cooling with Finned Roof Tiles

Cooling load demands have increased rapidly over the recent years. In extreme hot climates, the building sector consumes more than 90% of the total electricity of the country. Thermal comfort can however be improved by using passive cooling techniques. One of these methods is the cool roof approach. Two identical cabins were designed and constructed in Kuwait to test different cool roof techniques. In this study, a new system was proposed by using aluminum sheet tiles equipped with tilted fins to minimize direct sun light in the roof and reduce its temperature. Hourly temperatures and humidity were monitored for both units along with the power consumption of air conditioning, if required. The initial data shows nearly identical thermal properties of both units. The results were shown for two months of winter in Kuwait and the study will continue for other months of the year with more improvements, like using reflective paint or spacers between the tiles and the roof.