Qualities Of An Effective Solar Hot Water System

By Author: James
Total Articles: 139
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Solar hot water systems exist in many variations and styles. At the core of all these systems, there are distinct similarities. The obvious one, is that they all are designed to transform the radiant energy of the sun, beaming down across the earth each day, into usable heat energy. The heat energy can be used for many purposes; domestic hot water for cleaning, bathing and cooking, space heating or in-floor heating, process heat for industry, air conditioning and cooling with an absorption chiller.The solar hot water collector must be interfaced with these systems to achieve the energy gain.
An effective solar hot water system must be designed and implemented properly for maximal energy and efficiency across a variety of conditions. Efficiency for a solar collector will decline in general as the temperature difference between the ambient air outside and the working fluid (water, glycol mixture or other substance) increases. This is unavoidable, and simply a consequence of the intrinsic operations of heat transfer. For certain styles of solar hot water system, such as flat panels and evacuated tubes, this decline in efficiency ...
... is quite significant. This loss can be minimized through radiation concentration; the smaller the absorber part of the system is, the less heat it will be able to lose to the environment. With an effective concentrating system, an entire array of flat panels can be replaced by a single absorber.
With concentration comes space efficiency, a measure of how much energy is produced per unit space occupied by the solar hot water system. A concentrating collector will operate with by focusing the sun onto its absorber, effectively radiating it with more sun than naturally possible. By nature of its design, a concentrating collector must track the sun to some extent, as it only “sees” a certain portion of the sky. Tracking the sun as it moves across the sky increases the energy available throughout the day, the effective solar hot water collector is constantly operating at peak efficiency.
The SolarBeam Concentrator from Solartron Energy Systems has all the qualities mentioned above. It is a parabolic concentrator with two-axis tracking capabilities. As it follows the sun, its focusing dish will direct the sun onto its square metal absorber, ensuring both constant peak operation and minimal heat loss to the environment. Its durability and efficiency has been recognized by many organizations; it is the first concentrating collector to receive certification from the SRCC in the USA. In Europe, the SolarBeam has the Solar Keymark 12975-2 certification, in Canada it has been certified by the CSA and in Australia it holds NZS 2712 certification. This system is a pioneer and a leader in the industry, blazing a trail that is sure to inspire. The system is available now, and interested parties can rest assured that its energy can be used for a wide variety of purposes; it provides water at up to 93oC (200F). This solar hot water system is a wonderful choice.

This is a guest post by James Peter. He is a fairly well-known concentrating collector and Solartron Energy Systems.