Saturday, September 5, 2009

MORE ADVANCED BOILER




Here's a more advanced type of solar water heating panel. The suppliers claim that in the UK it can supply 90% of a typical home's hot water needs from April to November.
This "Thermomax" panel is made of a set of glass tubes. Each contains a metal plate with a blue-ish coating to help it absorb solar energy from IR to UV, so that even in diffuse sunlight you get a decent output. The air has been removed from the glass tubes to reduce heat loss, rather like a thermos flask.
Up the back of the metal plate is a "heat pipe", which looks like a copper rod but contains a liquid that transfers heat very quickly to the top of the glass tube. A water pipe runs across the top of the whole thing and picks up the heat from the tubes.

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