The Heart of The Solar Hot Water System: Solar Collector

A Solar Collector is a device that collects solar radiation/heat from the sun. This type of device can be found predominantly in some type of solar hot water system. It can also be found in solar-associated things like large power generators, for example, solar towers, which may not even have any relation to water heating. The device we focus on here is the one that relates to a hot water system. We briefly talk about, what exactly it is, why it is used, and what types are there.  

The solar collector in a little more detail:  

A solar collector lets a solar hot water system concentrate heat from the sun into its system. With the help of this device, a system is able to save energy costs as electricity from the public current is not being used. This is why it can act as an alternative to domestic water heaters that are normally, used, and one that is better at its job than the domestic one. This normally should be mounted on the roofs of the place where it going to be installed and must be installed in a way that it doesn't break off during bad weather.  

Types of solar collectors:

There can be three types of this device: Flat plate, Evacuated tube, and Line focus. A Flat plate can be made from metal boxes, which some kind of glazing on the top, and some type of insulation below, so the heat losses are minimal. In between, there is a heating absorbing plate that, essentially, as you may have guessed it, absorbed the radiation from the sun. Usually, these plates are made out of aluminum or copper, which are known to be great conductors of sunlight. These are also painted with a special metal coating, which helps retain the heat in place.  

The Evacuated tube one has a series of evacuated tubes, which helps store heat through an evacuated space, or a vacuum inside them. They do this by capturing sunlight inside them by the help of an inner absorbing metal tube inside the tubes themselves. These inner tubes carry the heat to the heat pipe in it through the help of a special fin, which has a special heat absorbing coating. All of the contents in this pipe are kept pressurized. The heat pipe itself has two sides, with the heated liquid being on one side, and the condensed vapor on the other side. This vapor moves over after being evaporated and being heated, and it moves over to heat condenser at the top of the pipe, this where the water flow which is needed to be heated is flowing. The copper head heats it, as it is wrapped around it. When the heating is over, the gas comes back as water, and the process is repeated.

A line focus collector is a type of a solar collector that uses highly reflective plates to absorb sunlight. These are usually fashioned as a trough and are always seen in a parabolic shape. The water pipes are installed in the middle, the sunlight reflections from the plates directly heat up the water.