How it works
- Water, or another heat transfer fluid is slowly pumped through the solar collector and is heated by the sun.
- Hot water is typically used to heat a building, provide domestic hot water, or provide industrial process heat.
- An insulated water storage tank is typically used to store energy for night use or cloudy days.
About the technology
- Collector is made of a glass vacuum tube with an aluminum cylinder inside.
- Light passes through the first layer of glass, through the vacuum, and is then absorbed upon a specialized coating on the second layer of glass, converting the solar energy into heat energy.
- Heat is then conducted from the second layer of glass, to the aluminum cylinder.
- Inside the aluminum cylinder is a copper pipe. Water flows through the copper pipe absorbing thermal energy.
- Behind the glass tube is a compound parabolic concentrating (CPC) reflector, an advanced mirror that concentrates light onto the absorber surface.
- This configuration offers a high gross collector efficiency in a compact, non-tracking solar thermal collector.
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