How Solar Works.
Courtesy, Globe Solar Energy.
Apricus Style System.
All solar water heating systems work on the same basic principles. Sun light heats a collector which is filled with water or as in fig 1, a heat pipe, that transfers it's energy to the water. This heated water flows through the system where the energy is transferred from the water to a storage tank, either directly or via a heat exchanger.
There are, however, differences in design that make these principles more or less effective.
In Fig 1 we see Globe Solar Energy's IP-95 Design.
This design use glass vacuum tubes to collect the sun's energy focusing that energy on a central conductor which transfers its energy directly to the water tank at the top of the unit. This design is 80/90% efficient and eliminates the need for additional hot water tanks.
Fig 2, Explains the plumbing circuit and as shown is very simple.
Fig 3
Looking at this diagram you can see that the suns rays hit the vacuum tubes in the solar collector, these in turn heat the coolant in the header tank at the top of the collector.
The heated coolant is now circulated, by mean of an electric pump, through the heat transfer coil inside the solar hot water storage tank.
The solar hot water tank contains cold water, supplied by the mains water supply, that is heated by the hot coolant circulating through the heat transfer coil.
The heated water from the solar tank is transfers into the original hot water tank as demand necessitates. In other words, instead of the original hot water tank being supplied with cold mains water it is supplied with solar heated water therefore reducing/eliminating the energy needed to heat the water for showers and baths etc.
This system does require an additional hot water tank/s.
