Solar heat collector is used to warm up sanitary water during the year, and it is used to warm up the house or building in the winter.
We recommend using solar panels to warm up the sanitary water, because of:
Sun energy is constant and theoretically it is used 365 days a year.
Sun energy is ecologically clean and doesn’t cost anything.
Cost of installing the system is low comparing to the time of exploitation and it is only ones payed when You install system.
Sun energy saves other energy resources that You pay for and You will get the invested money back for 2 to 5 years.
Thermal use of solar energy in household is totally in
Mass producing and using of new materials have made solar panels cheaper. Solar heating is ideal for almost every climate in USA, Canada and Europe. Huge number of sunny days means bigger using of solar energy. Solar heating advantage is that it is ecologically acceptable, and also its autonomy (it can be used where aren’t any utility infrastructure). Although the sun can be used for getting electricity it isn’t still profitably because of high price of photovoltaic elements. Its primary use in household is for warming up the water and also for additional system of central heating.
Principle of operation and system’s parts
Solar system for warming up the water has many parts. The most important part is roof collector. More collectors can be connected serial or parallel. They are parts of closed system of running water which we call collectors roundabout. It has water which transfers sun’s heating from collector to heater through heat exchanger. It there isn’t sun, water is warmed up through conventional system for warming water to the desired temperature.
Solar systems for warming up the water are usually used as additional heat sources, while the primary are gas, coal and electrical cauldrons. Their use as the primary heat source is rear, because they are limited to the places with enough amount of sun’s radiation during the year and where the climate is favorable so the session of the warming is smaller.
Basic parts of solar system are:
- collector
- space with hot water with heat changer
- solar panel with pump and control
- distributor with proper solar medium
Solar collector – Solar Panels Cost
Collector is the middle part of every solar system and it is used for collecting sun’s heat and its transferring to proper medium which warms the water (it is usually mixture of water and glycol). Sun’s energy pass though transparent surface which leaks radiation in only one direction and it transfers radiation to heat. Most important parts of solar collector are:
housing with proper heat isolation (connectors, headers and fixing elements)
absorbing surfaces (which are used to absorb heating part of sun’s radiation and its convert to useful heat.
shroud (which is made of ordinary window or water white glass or from polymers reinforced with glass fibers)
Two basic versions of collectors:
- Straight or plate collector
- Pipe collector
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The hot water tank
The hot water tank is a part of solar system which is used for changing the heat with heating fluid heating system or domestic hot water. Basis of the good action of the system is the good compliance of collector with hot water tank and heat changer. There are layers of water in the tank that have different temperature from cold to warm, so the narrow and tall tanks are the best, because it offers the best performance and heat flow. Warm water currents to the top of the tank (where it is taken for consumption), so its temperature is higher if the tank is taller and narrower. If the sun’s heat isn’t enough the water is warmed by conventional water heating system.
Two basic types of hot water tanks are:
- simple – only for preparation of PTV
- combined – for heating domestic water and space consisting of two tanks – one to the other, where the water from the inner tank is used for radiators
The tank must be well insulated in both cases.
Solar station
Solar station with pump is a central part of the whole solar system, because it allows the flow of heating medium, while automatic control cares for the safe operation of the system and coordinating its work with the heating system and and preparation of PTV, or conditions in the area such as changes in required heat extremely low or high ambient temperatures that can damage the system.
Solar medium
Solar medium is thing that flows (circulates) through the system. Water is most often the solar medium, its mixture with glycol or other products to prevent freezing.