Shallow Solar Pond Collector evolution through polymer testing and selection
The Shallow Solar Pond Solar Collector was conceived in the early 1900's as a thermal source of energy to provide heat to a Heat Engine to pump agricultural water for irrigation in southern Arizona. Modifications of this design have been used several places in the world in intervening years as a solar still to provide fresh water from brackish and/or sea water. During the last nine years, research has been conducted in refining these early ideas into a low-cost relatively high performance, site-built, solar collector module for providing solar heated hot water (potable and non-potable) for industrial and commercial users. The industrial and commercial sector wants low cost, low maintenance, high efficiency, and quick payback of expenditures for energy. When the Shallow Solar Pond Collector System is built in acre-sized collector arrays, or larger, it far surpasses the turn-key costs of typical flat plate collector installations. The relatively low costs of long-lived plastic materials that have come on the market in the last ten years have allowed us to build low cost solar collectors that have good performance (forty-two percent annual efficiency) long life (ten to fifteen years) and acre-sized module costs of less than ten dollars per square foot.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA); Burke Rubber Co., San Jose, CA (USA); Vistron Corp., Hawthorne, CA (USA). Filon Div.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5349972
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-86746; CONF-820304-15; ON: DE82012733
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
CHLORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
COMMERCIAL SECTOR
COST
DESIGN
EFFICIENCY
EQUIPMENT
FIBERGLASS
GLAZING MATERIALS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
HEATING
INDUSTRY
LINERS
MAINTENANCE
MATERIALS
MATERIALS TESTING
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC POLYMERS
PAYBACK PERIOD
PERFORMANCE
POLYETHYLENES
POLYMERS
POLYOLEFINS
POLYVINYLS
PONDS
PVC
SERVICE LIFE
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR HEATING
SOLAR PONDS
SOLAR WATER HEATING
SURFACE WATERS
TESTING
THERMAL INSULATION
WATER HEATING