Solar Heating System
The benefits of choosing to install a solar powered hot water system are significant when viewed through a long-term lens. It is a great investment with the eventual return being risk free. This return will also increase in-line with the increase in gas and electricity prices in the future, giving you more incentive to make the initial investment.
HRS provide 2 options for solar panels - Flat plate collectors or Evacuated tube collectors. Dependant on the local climate, both options offer a good solution for solar hot water. In northern European locations, the evacuated tube may offer better benefits than flat plate collectors due to the year-round efficiency of glass tubes, whereas the flat plate type offer longevity of operation and are more suitable for installations in Southern
Europe and the Middle East due to higher working temperatures and efficiency.
Flat Plate Collectors
The HRS Solar Flat plate solar thermal collector consists of a copper riser tube structure, fitted to a flat absorber plate. The absorber plates are highly efficient, and are made of specially designed Tinox Selectice or Black Chrome based on the requirement. The absorber plate on standard Flat plate solar thermal collectors are generally painted black or black in colour. The black surface is most efficient at absorbing solar radiation and converting it to heat, it is also highly efficient at reradiating long wave infrared heat back out. The collector structure is manufactured from stainless steel or anodized aluminum and the collector base is manufactured from weather resistant aluminium or galvanized sheet with 35mm glass wool rear insulation. The glass cover is highly transparent, made from lowiron,
tempered glass.
Evacuatd Tube Collectors
The HRS SolarTube evacuated tube solar thermal collector are a set of glass tubes fitted to a header pipe. The tubes are coated externally with an absorbent film. Internally, the glass tube has a copper pipe (also known as a heat pipe) with the solar fluid within the copper tube. Between the copper tube and the glass tube, the air is
removed to create a vacuum. This effectively lets in the solar radiation to heat the copper tube but stops any heat escaping back out because of the vacuum, thus making
them more efficient in the winter than flat plate collectors. The fluid heated within the tube rises during the natural convection process to the top into the header and is
replaced by cooler water which is heated during the heating cycle. This is circulated through the heat exchanger to transfer the heat to the hot water system. The solar water is cooled during this process as it's heat is transferred to the domestic hot water and then starts the cycle of solar heating once again.
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Resources:
HRS Flat Plate Collector Solar System
HRS Evacuated Tube Collectors
HRS Thermosiphon System