Different efficencys in solar panel design
Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2008 9:02 pm
I am in the process of building four different 4X8 hot air solar panels all will have same motor for active thermostat control and all will have same furnace snap switch 90/130 as original I just completed but first one it is made using aluminum drier tube 4 inch the good kind the heavy duty flexible ones approx 64 foot of it from intake to output so far it kicks in about 10 to 15 minutes after the panel is hit by direct sunlight and runs approx 20 minutes before it shuts down either due to room reaching temp on thermostat or snap switch reaching low end the next panel will be flat plate collector design same specs all will have 3/16 single pane low iron tempered glass cover glass same as first on the recycle time on the first panel seems to be about 10 minutes heating up and 20 minutes cooling down i am sure those times will change as it gets colder out but even if that triples it will still save me a mint in furnace oil this winter.I plan to plot each panels recoup times and temp of heat to run time ratios to get a Btu average for each will post those when completed or is there is one that is really impressive or data gets to big I publish it to one of my web sites with a link and pictures of it I am trying a rather radical design for the last one I build but all will be 4X8 surface to keep capture area at a constant.All the panels I am building will cost under 400 dollars to build if you have access to basic tools and materials all will be made from off the self materials you can by at most home supply or hardware stores the only item not available from local stores would be the snap switch in the panel mark sells those.