GB1589554A

GB1589554A - Solar heating collectors

Info

Publication number: GB1589554A
Application number: GB7148/78A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: SOLARSENSE Ltd
Current assignee: SOLARSENSE Ltd
Priority date: 1978-05-25
Filing date: 1978-05-25
Publication date: 1981-05-13

Description

(54) IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLAR HEATING COLLECTORS (71) We, SOLARSENSE LIMITED, a British Company, of Princes House, 33 High Street, Bagshot, Surrey, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to solar heating collectors.According to the present invention there is provided a set of panels for assembly to form a collector plate of a solar heating collector, the panels being of a first type and of a second type to be disposed alternately therewith, each panel having a trough portion and a web portion extending therefrom, such that the trough portion of a panel of the first type when juxtaposed against a trough portion of a panel of the second type forms a housing for a conduit for conveying thermal transfer fluid in order to remove heat absorbed by the collector plate, engagement means to engage adjacent panels being provided on or near at least one of each pair of juxtaposable lateral edges of the trough portions thereof, and further engagement means being provided on or near the free lateral edge of a web portion of a panel of at least one type to engage it to the free lateral edge of a web portion of a panel of the other type so that a continuously extending web may be formed between each pair of housings.

In any exceptional cases where only one conduit is to be housed only one pair of panels need be used, but ordinarily a set of five or more pairs will be used to form a collector plate.

Generally the conduits will be formed of conventional copper or stainless steel piping and the trough portions will correspondingly each be of semi-circular cross-section.

Preferably a panel of the first type is formed with a groove or channel at or near each lateral edge of the trough portion, each groove being arranged to receive a corresponding lip formed on the two corresponding lateral edges of a panel of the second type which is also preferably provided with a groove at the free lateral edge of the web portion; such an arrangement allows the panels to be assembled by a simple lateral movement and avoids the need in assembly of sliding each panel along the whole length of an adjacent panel. The further engagement means between the web portions should preferably be such as to provide an effectively continuous upper surface of the collector plate.

Panels according to the present invention may be conveniently produced by extruding aluminium to the appropriate crosssection and rendering the upper surfaces black by anodisation or painting.

As panels according to the invention provide a housing which completely surrounds the conduits, maximum heat transfer is assured. Moreover, the panels may be easily assembled, as described above and no clips are necessary to hold the assembled panels in position.

A collector plate formed from panels according to the present invention may be incorporated in a conventional collector casing so that the plate is protected from damage and heat loss on its absorbing side by a transparent panel, usually of glass, and on its non-absorbing side by a layer of thermal insulation and a fibreglass back.

Some embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification in which Figure 1 is a plan, partly broken away, of a solar heating collector embodying interlocking collector plate extrusions according to the first aspect of the invention; Figure 2 is a section on the line Il-Il of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a section, with a centre portion removed, on the line III--III of Figure 1.

As seen in Figures 1 to 3, a solar collector 10 employing interlocking collector plate extrusions comprises a pair of extruded aluminium side frame members 11 and 12 and a pair of similarly-formed end members 13 and 14 constituting a rectangular frame 15 having lower internal flanges 16 and 17, between which is received a fibre-glass bottom plate 18. A pair of intermediate internal flanges 19 receives the marginal edge portions of a collector plate assembly 20 which is held therebetween by a series of silicone rubber blocks 21. The space between the bottom plate 18 and the collector plate assembly 21 is packed with insulating material 22, for example glass wool with a layer of aluminium foil 22a positioned immediately below the assembly 21.An upper flange 23 supports a glass cover 24 (shown partly broken away in Figure 1) which rests on a silicone rubber strip 25, the join between the frame 15 and the cover 24 being rendered watertight by a polyvinyl chloride extrusion 26 which clips onto a bead formed at the top edge of the frame 15.

The collector plate assembly 20 is formed by a series of alternate top-plate extrusions 27 and bottom-plate extrusions 28, the topplate extrusion 27 each having a semi- cylindrical shell portion 30 and extending from one lateral edge thereof a planar web portion 31 terminating in an off-set lip 32.

Near the edges of each shell portion 30 there extend respective flanges 33 and 34 forming with an adjacent body portion of the extrusion a recess for reception of corresponding projections 35 and 36 from near the edges of a shell portion 37 on the bottom plate extrusion 28, the free lateral edge of a web portion 38 of which is provided with a channel 39 for reception of the off-set lip 32 of the web portion 31 of the adjacent top-plate extrusion 27.The configuration of the flanges 33 and 34 and projections 35 and 36 of the cylindrical shells is such that they are retained by frictional engagement and may be engaged without sliding by first inserting the projection 35 into the corresponding recess and then clipping the projection 36 into its corresponding recess so that the two complementary shell portions 30 and 37 are fitted over each length of a continuous pipe 40 which con- veyS thermal transfer fluid such as water.

It will be noted that the end frame members 13 and 14 are suitably apertured to allow each end of- the pipe 40 to project beyond the frame 15.

In order to accommodate the curved por flons, of the pipe 40 adjacent each end frame member 13, 14, the extrusions 27 and- 2 & are cut away transversely as best shown in Figure } to remove adjacent terminal por tbions from the web portions 51 and 38 and cut away longitudinally to- remove half of each shell portion 30. and 37 adjacent thereto.

Immediately- beneath the upper flange 23 of the frame 15 there is positioned a narrow flange 42 forming therewith a channel for reception of a cover strip 43 adjacent each end frame member 13 and 14. The gap between the cover strip 40 and the ends of the cut-away web portions 31 and 33 are sealed by resilient sealing strips 44. The area around each U-bend of the pipe 40 is packed with insulating material.

It will be appreciated that it is sometimes advantageous to use a greater number of smaller diameter pipes instead of a smaller number of larger diameter pipes; for example it is sometimes preferable to have ten lengths of conduit of smaller diameter in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:- 1. A set of panels for assembly to form a collector plate of a solar heating collector, the panels being of a first type and of a second type to be disposed alternately therewith, each panel having a trough portion and a web portion extending therefrom, such that the trough portion of a panel of the first type when juxtaposed against a trough portion of a panel of the second type forms a housing for a conduit for conveying thermal transfer fluid in order to remove heat absorbed by the collector plate, engagement means to engage adjacent panels being provided on or near at least one of each pair of juxtaposable lateral edges of the trough portions thereof, and further engagement means being provided on or near the free lateral edge of a web portion of a panel of at least one type to engage it to the free lateral edge of the web portion of a panel of the other type so that a continuously extending web rnay be formed between each pair of housings.

2. A set of panels as claimed in Claim 1, in which the or each panel of the first type is formed with a groove or channel at or near each lateral edge of the trough portion, each groove being arranged to receive a corresponding lip formed on the two corresponding lateral edges of a panel of the second type.

3. A set of panels as claimed in Claim 2, in which the or each panel of the second type is also provided with a groove at the free lateral edge of the web portion.

4. A set of panels as claimed in any preceding claimed, in which: the further engagement means between- the web portions are such as to provide an effectively continuous upper- surface of the collector plate.

5 A set of panels as claimed, in any preceding cyan, in which the panels are extruded from aluminium and the other sur

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. between which is received a fibre-glass bottom plate 18. A pair of intermediate internal flanges 19 receives the marginal edge portions of a collector plate assembly 20 which is held therebetween by a series of silicone rubber blocks 21. The space between the bottom plate 18 and the collector plate assembly 21 is packed with insulating material 22, for example glass wool with a layer of aluminium foil 22a positioned immediately below the assembly 21. An upper flange 23 supports a glass cover 24 (shown partly broken away in Figure 1) which rests on a silicone rubber strip 25, the join between the frame 15 and the cover 24 being rendered watertight by a polyvinyl chloride extrusion 26 which clips onto a bead formed at the top edge of the frame 15. The collector plate assembly 20 is formed by a series of alternate top-plate extrusions 27 and bottom-plate extrusions 28, the topplate extrusion 27 each having a semi- cylindrical shell portion 30 and extending from one lateral edge thereof a planar web portion 31 terminating in an off-set lip 32. Near the edges of each shell portion 30 there extend respective flanges 33 and 34 forming with an adjacent body portion of the extrusion a recess for reception of corresponding projections 35 and 36 from near the edges of a shell portion 37 on the bottom plate extrusion 28, the free lateral edge of a web portion 38 of which is provided with a channel 39 for reception of the off-set lip 32 of the web portion 31 of the adjacent top-plate extrusion 27.The configuration of the flanges 33 and 34 and projections 35 and 36 of the cylindrical shells is such that they are retained by frictional engagement and may be engaged without sliding by first inserting the projection 35 into the corresponding recess and then clipping the projection 36 into its corresponding recess so that the two complementary shell portions 30 and 37 are fitted over each length of a continuous pipe 40 which con- veyS thermal transfer fluid such as water. It will be noted that the end frame members 13 and 14 are suitably apertured to allow each end of- the pipe 40 to project beyond the frame 15. In order to accommodate the curved por flons, of the pipe 40 adjacent each end frame member 13, 14, the extrusions 27 and- 2 & are cut away transversely as best shown in Figure } to remove adjacent terminal por tbions from the web portions 51 and 38 and cut away longitudinally to- remove half of each shell portion 30. and 37 adjacent thereto. Immediately- beneath the upper flange 23 of the frame 15 there is positioned a narrow flange 42 forming therewith a channel for reception of a cover strip 43 adjacent each end frame member 13 and 14. The gap between the cover strip 40 and the ends of the cut-away web portions 31 and 33 are sealed by resilient sealing strips 44. The area around each U-bend of the pipe 40 is packed with insulating material. It will be appreciated that it is sometimes advantageous to use a greater number of smaller diameter pipes instead of a smaller number of larger diameter pipes; for example it is sometimes preferable to have ten lengths of conduit of smaller diameter in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:-

1. A set of panels for assembly to form a collector plate of a solar heating collector, the panels being of a first type and of a second type to be disposed alternately therewith, each panel having a trough portion and a web portion extending therefrom, such that the trough portion of a panel of the first type when juxtaposed against a trough portion of a panel of the second type forms a housing for a conduit for conveying thermal transfer fluid in order to remove heat absorbed by the collector plate, engagement means to engage adjacent panels being provided on or near at least one of each pair of juxtaposable lateral edges of the trough portions thereof, and further engagement means being provided on or near the free lateral edge of a web portion of a panel of at least one type to engage it to the free lateral edge of the web portion of a panel of the other type so that a continuously extending web rnay be formed between each pair of housings.

faces thereof are rendered black by anodisation.

6. A set of panels for assembly to form a collector plate of a solar heating collector, substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification.

7. A solar collector comprising a set of panels as claimed in any preceding claim, a conduit in each housing thereof and a casing glazed on its upper surface.