Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Solar water heating panel

Patent ·
OSTI ID:5877299
The present invention discloses a solar water heating panel and method of constructing such a solar panel from a pair of thin sheets bonded together around their peripheral edges and having at least one of the sheets formed with resiliently flexible areas defined by a plurality of abutting concave hexagonal areas or zones. The center of each hexagonal zone is formed as a dimple, concave with respect to the opposite sheet, whose radius of curvature is greater than the radius of an inscribed circle within said zone. The abutting zones between each hexagonal zone are formed convex relative to the opposite sheet and have a radius less than that of an inscribed circle. In a preferred form, the sheets are joined together at the center of alternate spaced-apart hexagonal areas. In this way, except for the centers bonded near the panel edges, each joined hexagonal center is surrounded by six unjoined areas to form both transverse and longitudinal flow passages through the panel.
Assignee:
Chevron Research Company
Patent Number(s):
US 4474172
OSTI ID:
5877299
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English