Solar Hot Water
How Solar Hot Water Systems Work
Collectors
The core of every solar hot water system is the solar collectors, which capture the energy in sunlight and convert it to heat. There are several different kinds of solar collectors, the most common of which are flat plate and evacuated tube. The collectors on Fort Hoosac are evacuated tube.
Evacuated tube collectors feature parallel rows of transparent glass tubes. Each tube contains a glass outer tube and a metal absorber tube attached to a fin. The fin's coating absorbs solar energy but inhibits radiative heat loss. The tubes are manufactured with a vacuum between the outer and inner tubes, which eliminates conductive and convective heat loss and helps them achieve very high temperatures.
The core of every solar hot water system is the solar collectors, which capture the energy in sunlight and convert it to heat. There are several different kinds of solar collectors, the most common of which are flat plate and evacuated tube. The collectors on Fort Hoosac are evacuated tube.
Evacuated tube collectors feature parallel rows of transparent glass tubes. Each tube contains a glass outer tube and a metal absorber tube attached to a fin. The fin's coating absorbs solar energy but inhibits radiative heat loss. The tubes are manufactured with a vacuum between the outer and inner tubes, which eliminates conductive and convective heat loss and helps them achieve very high temperatures.
The inner copper tube is filled with a non-toxic liquid.
As the liquid absorbs heat from the copper pipe, it evaporates and
rises to the top of the copper heat pipe. A larger portion of copper at the
top of the heat pipe is the condenser. It either surrounds or is
mounted inside a pipe through which a heat transfer fluid (generally water or antifreeze) flows.
As the heat transfer fluid flows, the condenser loses heat to the fluid,
and the gas inside the heat pipe condenses and flows back to the bottom of the
heat pipe as a liquid. The heat transfer fluid is then pumped to a heat exchanger inside the building, where the
heat is taken out of the tranfer fluid and put in to the domestic water supply.
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