Solar Water Heating Performance
Vacuum Tube Technology for year-round performance.
Our solar collector panels utilize vacuum tube technology and are designed
especially for colder climates such as the UK. However please note
that a back-up heat source is always required in the UK. The system will
work very well on bright sunny days in the winter, however on dull overcast days
there will be very little heat contribution (hence the back-up source will have
to make up the deficit on these days).
Below is a graph of a typical day's panel performance. This was plotted
from a day in May 2010. The system in question comprised a 30 tube
collector panel with a 250 litre unvented twin coil cylinder.
Notes:
The over-night temperatures of the cylinder from the previous day's solar input
were 70°C at the top and 50°C at the bottom.
Showers were taken and washing done between 0700 & 0800hrs, this reduced the
bottom of the tank temperature to 25°C as cold water is introduced at the bottom.
The panel temperature reaches 33°C soon after 0800, the pump starts and the
bottom of the cylinder starts to be heated.
The cylinder heats steadily throughout the day (sunny with broken cloud
conditions throughout the day). Small amounts of water are drawn from the
cylinder throughout the day. Up to 1400 the top of the tank temp falls
slightly, this is due to the convection currents occurring as the bottom is
heated, which mix the water and hence the top temperature falls. The
average temperature throughout the whole cylinder is however increasing during
this period.
By 1400 the entire cylinder has reached 62°C.
By 1900 the cylinder temp is 75°C throughout.
An interesting
example of the cold weather performance of evacuated tube collectors is
demonstrated by this series of photos. These were taken on 29th
September 2008 when there was a light covering of snow at an installation in
Reading UK. Even though the panel is covered with snow, it was a
bright day and the light could penetrate to the tubes. The panel
temperature rose quickly, but even with the panel temperature at 58°C
(at 10:00am) the snow stays un-melted on the tubes. This is testament to the
efficiency of the highly insulated vacuum tubes. Note also that the
snow remains on the collector panel after the snow has melted on the
adjacent roof.
At the start of the
day the tank temperatures were: Top 48°C, Bottom 38°C
at 17:00 they were: Top 56°C, Bottom 46°C (210 litre tank)
 08:00, panel
temp 0°C
08:30 panel
temp 13°C
 09:00 panel
temp 33°C
09:15 panel reaches 44°C - pump starts
circulating.
 09:30 panel
temp 46°C
 09:45 panel
temp 49°C
 10:00 panel
temp 58°C
 11:00 panel
temp 68°C
12:45 panel temp 72°C
17:00 panel temp 32°C
Contact us for more info
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