Following an initial meeting on Wednesday 9th June 2021, it was agreed to commence a solar thermal real time R&D project to create a retrofit solar thermal system for installation in domestic and commercial premises. This is based on earlier positive proof of concept work carried out in Norwich.
On the 15th June a decision was made to revise our initial proposals and limit temperatures to 100 degrees centigrade by using a fully vented system (this blog has therefore been rewritten).
An earlier system, based on ‘heat loops’, relied upon a 50 gallon ‘quiescent tank’ which heated water to 85 degrees centigrade and 50 gallons of long term storage. This project will establish irrefutable proof (through publishing real time R&D),that same concept can be translated to work in a practical way with solar thermal collectors fitted to either a roof or a wall and lead to full commercialisation.
The concept of a real time R&D project is to publicise the results of the R&D work in real time and store data accessible to anyone who wishes to see it by accessing this page and using the links in this page to see the relevant data.
The primary R&D will centre upon a site in Swanton Morley in Norfolk, the secondary R&D site will be in Norwich.
Most of the early trials will take place at Swanton Morley. This page will be up updated and information links added as the project progresses. At the time of writing this, the building needed to house the tanks has not been constructed, and the tanks are still in the design phase. We will release information in real time as early as we can, so you may wish to follow our progress in real time.
Solar Thermal Panels
We are grateful to Flowflex for donating the solar panels which will be used in this R&D project at Swanton Morley. The Norwich venue will host the WrightChoice solar panels we developed in 2019 with the potential as of 2021 of using stainless steel absorption units..
Both types of panels are ‘flat plate’ panels which are the simplest and oldest form of solar panels but we intend to develop a system which can use any solar thermal panel including those with evacuated tubes.
Photo Voltaic Panels
We will place a photo voltaic panel at the same angle and orientation as our solar panels next to the solar thermal panels so that there is a direct comparison between the efficiency of the panels. This also allows us to calibrate our pump outputs and relationships between panel temperatures and incident sunlight.
Weather Stations
We will be using two Davis weather stations to upload weather data which will be accessible through this page such that you can see the weather condition at each site in real time.
Solar Intensity
Air Temperature
Wind Direction and Speed
At the same time you will be able to see tank temperatures and energy collected and stored.
Features of the system
The systems developed will focus on efficient collection of solar energy in Temperate Northern Hemisphere Countries but will be equally useful in countries nearer the equator such as Cyprus where there is already a tradition of using solar thermal for central heating.
Outputs
We intend to mimic demand for bathing, washing, and cleaning in the summer by taking out a fixed volume of hot water at either 52 degrees or 42 degrees centigrade and replacing this with the same volume of cold mains water every day. During the winter we intend to use water for a combination of direct use and for underfloor central heating.
Focus on Winter
It is easy to collect hot water from any solar panel on a clear day in the middle of summer. The energy harvested from the sun is far more valuable in the middle of winter so our project will focus on maximising efficiencies in the winter.
Safety of Systems
The solar panels will be fully protected and isolated from any and all internal pipework and tanks by being fully vented. This allows us to use plastic pipes throughout.
During periods of cold weather the direct heating system will protect the panel from freezing by using both recirculation and a water dump.
Power Supply
All our systems will designed to be ‘off grid’ if required which can be run from photo voltaic cells if required. Equally you can plug in a transformer to get a 12 volt supply. All of our controls, and pumps are 12 volt and suitable to be run from a 12 volt lead acetate battery if required.
Direct and Indirect Systems
We will evaluate both but we anticipate that a direct system and low temperature drain down will be our favoured solution.
Pumps
We will be using versions of the new V3 radiator boosters using our new 12 volt pumps which arrive in the UK on or around the 21st June 2021. These will be pumping water up to 85 degrees centigrade. They are tested to 8 bar and are capable of pumping water up to 120 deg C.
Alan Wright
BSc (Hons) CEng MICE
Inventor of the ShowerPowerBooster
12th June 2021
15th June 2021
