FR2574911A1 - Use of the surface of tennis courts as solar collectors intended to supply a heated fluid (water or air) - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to the use of the surface of tennis courts as solar collectors intended to supply a heated fluid. Solar radiation strikes the surface of the tennis court 3 and heats it. By radiation, this heat penetrates the inside of the materials which make up the support of the covering of the court. The cold fluid, which arrives at 1, flows through a pipe 4 incorporated within these materials, is heated by absorbing part of this heat which it transmits to an installation for producing hot water or water for heating, after being distributed at 2. The invention makes it possible to achieve significant energy savings when the tennis court is close to adjoining installations or buildings.

Description

 Use of the surface of tennis courts as solar collectors intended to supply a heated fluid (water or air).

 The present invention relates to the heating of a fluid by solar energy.

 For a long time, man has thought of making the most of free solar energy, in order to save expensive energy.

 The most common solution is to heat a fluid in solar collectors.

 Very succinctly, a solar collector is a very flat box whose bottom is an insulator and the cover a transparent panel which lets in light and provides a greenhouse effect.

 This very flat boot is therefore a heat storm in which is installed a sort of plate covered with a black coating to absorb heat; in this plate is incorporated a serpentine pipe containing a fluid which arrives cold and reheated spring.

 To obtain maximum efficiency, the sensor must be raised from 30 to 600.

 Being traditionally considered unsightly and bulky, collectors are generally grouped on the roof or attached to the blind walls or balconies of a building.

We see that the priority has been to find the system that has the best energy efficiency. We therefore implemented a specific device, hoping: 1 that mass production would lower the price of the invention
that the increase in costly energy makes it more
quickly profitable.

The reasoning which presided over the birth of the present invention is quite the opposite: rather than cluttering up the space (roof, wall, balcony, garden, terrace, etc.) with devices specially assigned to the solar energy recovery, why not use the large surface area (36 x 18 = 648 square meters) exposed to the sun of a tennis court as an accessory? Can we recover some of the heat it stores while preserving its tennis court destination?
In other words: the heat collector of the solar collector is made up of the thickness of the tennis court and, even if the energy yield per square meter is lower than that of a real solar collector, can we circulate the pipe in coil filled with fluid which arrives cold and leaves warm?
A tennis court is normally always carried out according to the same principle; practically only the coating changes.

 The prepared ground gives a bottom of form on which are piled 30 to 50 centimeters of thickness of different materials, in successive layers, in a well determined order, and covered by the "covering" 2 (clay, carpet, natural grass or synthetic, synthetic resin, paints ... and the list is not exhaustive).

 In FIG. 1 appended, in the order of laying or working, we see in 1: the natural worked soil which serves as a form bottom; in 2: a thickness of non-freezing natural gravel in a fine crushed finish; in 3: the prméable support (porous concrete, or hot-coated, or cold-coated, or another material) - or waterproof (concrete slabs, for example); in 4t the coating.

 It is therefore easy to run a fluid pipe over a layer of materials before spreading another, this new material matching the shape of the pipe.

 the principle of the invention is as follows: incorporating a fluid line in the materials which support the coating of the tennis court. This pipe is connected to a heating installation, to a hot water production installation, to a heat pump or possibly to a swimming pool, either separately or jointly.

 Figure No. 2 attached shows by way of example the section of a tennis court "synthetic resin" with incorporation of the fluid line in a layer of hot bituminous mix. In the order of implementation, we see: in 1: the soil in compacted cuttings or bottom form; in 2: a thickness of non-freezing natural gravel in a fine crushed finish; in 3: the fluid line; in 4: a layer of hot bituminous mix; in 5s another layer of hot bituminous mix; in 6: the synthetic resin coating.

 FIG. 3 annexed shows a tennis court 3 seen from above with an example of arrangement of the fluid line 4, the fluid arriving at 1 and leaving at 2.

 This is only an example because, before any installation, each tennis court must give rise to a preliminary study taking into account in particular the following parameters: - the nature of the coating chosen and the materials supporting it, - the environment as much physical than climatic, - hot water (flow and temperature) and heating needs.

 From standard diagrams, this study will prescribe the nature of the fluid line, its dimensions (sectional and linear), its spacing, its arrangement, its depth in relation to the coating as well as the number of water circuits.

Since in recent years it has been built in
France about two thousand tennis courts per year and that each has a surface of 648 square meters, one can imagine the importance of energy savings to achieve by the exploitation of the present invention.

 In addition, we know that at least twenty thousand tennis courts are in operation and that their surfaces require periodic repair; this repair may include laying the fluid line of the present invention. In this case, the fluid line is laid directly on the existing tennis court, on which is spread the material or materials that support the new coating.

 Finally, because of the present invention, manufacturers will take into account the new use of the surface of tennis courts to find new materials and new coatings in order to obtain the best thermal efficiency while maintaining or improving the comfort of Game.

 On this subject, one can arrange the circuits of circulation of fluid so that the cold fluid circulates at the places of the tennis court where the players are most often found and the heated fluid at the places where the players are least often. This has the effect of cooling the surface of the tennis court and decreasing the heating of the feet.

 Figure 4 attached shows an example of such an arrangement with five different circuits 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 in body in the tennis court 3 seen from above. 1, 5, 7, 9 and 10 are the fluid inlets and 2, 4, 6, 8 and 11 are the returns to the installation of the hot water production cape or the heating instillation or the heat pump or the swimming pool.

 Also, if the fluid used is water, you can connect the water circulation circuit (s) of the tennis court to a simple garden sprinkler system, which has the effect of cooling the playing surface and to temper the irrigation water.

 We therefore see that we can take advantage of the construction of new tennis courts or the repair of old tennis courts to make huge solar collectors cheaply which will allow to achieve substantial energy savings for heating or the production of hot water for homes, offices, shops, club houses, changing rooms, buildings or swimming pools.

Claims (2)

RESORTS  1. Tennis court characterized by the incorporation of a fluid line (water or air) in the materials which support the coating.  2. Tennis court according to claim 1, characterized by the connection of the fluid line to an instillation for producing hot water or heating or a heat pump or a swimming pool, either separately or jointly.