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Solar panel

Solar panel description/claims

This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/932,176 filed May 30, 2007 entitled Solar Panel.

This invention relates to solar collection panel construction and in particular to cost effective and highly efficient solar energy collector panels constructed in a scalable manner as a single integrated unit onto the roof or other support structure.

It is known that when making solar collectors based on heat transfer to a fluid, that a sheet or thermally conductive material that readily absorbs solar energy is placed in thermal contact with fluid carrying elements, tube or pipe to transfer the absorbed solar energy to the fluid which is ultimately pumped and stored for use in heating or power generation applications. The construction of the solar collector often includes a framework or housing which can be mounted to a structure such as a building roof. The housing typically insulates the solar panel from the surrounding environment and generally has a optically clear cover such as a glass panel which allows a substantial portion of the solar energy impinging on it to pass through to be absorbed by the underlying sheet of the solar collector. The construction of the solar collector sheet and the housing enclosing it can vary greatly in both cost and efficiency.

Applicant is aware of patents regarding solar collector design and housing such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,149 titled “Solar energy collector”, issued to Fossum, et al. on Jul. 11, 1995. Fossum teaches a large rectangular solar heat absorber which includes a plurality of identical rectangular heat absorbing panels which, when assembled in side by side and end to end relationship will form a total heat absorbing surface area of the desired dimensions, with each panel comprising a rectangular heat absorbing plate having a top surface to receive incident solar radiation, a black body radiation coating on the top surface; and one or more pipes secured in heat transferring relation to the bottom surface of said heat absorbing plate; a rectangular frame dimensioned to mount a number of panels in side by side and end to end relation; a panel of glass covering the panels and having the property of reflecting infrared radiation emitted by said black body coating; means for securing the glass cover to the frame; means connecting the adjacent ends of said pipes to provide heat transfer fluid flow paths extending the length of the end to end panels; header means connected to the non-adjacent ends of said pipes for directing fluid flow through all of said heat transfer flow paths; pump means for producing turbulent flow of heat transfer fluid through all of said pipes; an inlet header connected to one end of a first set of pipes providing a fluid flow path to said first set of pipes; an outlet header connected to one end of a second set of pipes providing a fluid flow path from said second set of pipes; said inlet header and outlet header being on the same ends of said panels with connecting means providing horizontally parallel fluid flow paths; and header means directing fluid flow from said first set of pipes to said second sets of pipes, said second set of pipes having a fluid flow path in a direction opposite the fluid flow path of said first set of pipes.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,193 titled “Solar energy absorbing roof” issued to Ronc on May 6, 1980, teaches a solar roofing structure combining the covering and waterproofing functions of a conventional roof with the functions of a solar energy-collecting panel, and which consists of a supporting base; a layer of insulating material on said base; waterproofing cover of elastomers and bitumen, the outer surface of which is covered on its upper surface with mineral particles selected from the group consisting of gravel, glass and ceramic particles; and means separate from said waterproofing cover means defining circulation channels for a liquid, in close contact with and below the waterproofing cover means, and between said waterproofing cover and the insulating material and in contact with each.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,172,311 titled “Process for manufacturing solar collector panels” issued to Heyman on Oct. 30, 1979, teaches a method for fabricating a lightweight economical solar energy collector panel comprising the steps of: building a solar collector by inverting the outer frame having an inwardly protruding top flange defining a radiation-receiving opening, thereby upwardly exposing the underside of the top flange; positioning on the upwardly exposed underside of the top flange a translucent glass or plastic layer substantially transparent to solar radiation spanning the outer frame across the opening beneath the top flange; placing on the upwardly exposed underside of the translucent layer a spacer partition means underlying the translucent layer, and having a plurality of rigid upright support wall portions spanning the outer frame and juxtaposed to the translucent layer; forming a manifold-connected plurality of heat-conductive fluid conduit means shaped and dimensioned for underlying the spacer partition means; forming a temporary array comprising a thin metallic foil sheet foldably formed into cylindrical channel heat-transmitting portions which all embrace the fluid conduit means, and which are contiguously foldably joined by substantially flat heat-receiving portions shaped for extending across the opening beneath the spacer partition, exposed to solar radiation entering the opening; inverting and positioning the temporarily assembled metallic foil sheet and conduit array on the exposed underside of the upright support wall portions of the spacer partition means with the conduit array protruding into the interior region of the outer frame away from the spacer partition means; and foaming in place a polymer foam back directly in contact with the temporarily assembled metallic foil sheet and fluid conduit array, spanning and substantially filling the remaining space within the outer frame and thereby permanently anchoring the foregoing assembled components into an interconnected panel unit.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,935 titled “Solar heating panels” issued to Marles, et al. on Aug. 21, 1979, teaches a solar heating panel comprising a plurality of cylindrical tubes for carrying a liquid to be heated and an absorber plate for absorbing solar radiation falling thereon, the absorber plate including a plurality of rigid plate sections each having at one edge an outwardly-facing concave substantially semi-cylindrical portion, the concave surface of the semi-cylindrical portion having the same radius of curvature as the outer circumferential surface of one of the cylindrical tubes, and clamping means engaging the convex outer surfaces of the semi-cylindrical portions on two adjacent plate sections and thereby clamping a cylindrical tube with its outer surface in heat-conducting contact with the concave surfaces of said semi-cylindrical portions, each of the plates of said plurality of plate sections being shaped at an opposite edge which is parallel to the said one edge such that the said opposite edge faces towards the said one edge thereby defining a channel in the plate section within which channel a similar opposite edge of another plate section is slidingly engaged in a manner which detachably interlocks the opposite edges but permits expansion of the plate sections relative to one another.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,072,262 titled “Method of fabricating a solar heating unit” issued to Godrick, et al. on Feb. 7, 1978, teaches a process for fabricating a solar heating unit for heating fluids where the process consists of: placing a thin, soft, annealed sheet having a good thermal conductivity characteristic in conformal relation to a grooved surface of a self-supporting, thermally conductive planar plate, assembling a plurality of tubes in a spaced apart planar relation, the spacing between the tubes equal to the spacing between said grooves, and the contour of the grooves substantially conforming to a portion of the contour of the tubes, connecting headers in a fluid-tight connection to the tubes to provide fluid flow paths between said headers and the tubes, applying a thermally conductive paste adhesive along the conformal portion of the tubes, and positioning the assembled elements in an aligned relation to the grooves in the plate with the conformal portion abutting the thin sheet, and pressing the tubes against said sheet with sufficient pressure and temperature to creep form the sheet around the attachment portion of the tubes, and to simultaneously melt the paste adhesive to provide a good thermally conductive bond between the elements and the sheet.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,856 titled “Solar fluid heater” issued to Gallagher on Mar. 15, 1977, teaches a solar energy fluid heater made of an open housing having rigid bottom and side panels; a plurality of abutting solar panels for collecting solar energy positioned within the housing, each having an upper surface positioned below the opening in the housing for collecting solar energy, an open circular channel formed in the center portion of each panel having an opening smaller than the diameter of the channel along the longitudinal center of the solar panel, with the channel being below the opening and the upper surface and the portions of the upper surface adjacent each side of the opening having a linear downward slope; a conduit member positioned within the channel having a diameter greater than the relaxed diameter of the channel and a length sufficiently long to extend from each end of the solar panel; header members one connecting each adjacent end of the conduit and extending to the exterior of the collector housing; a number of support members spaced apart along the bottom panel of the housing for spacing the solar panels from the bottom panel; insulation is placed between the solar panels and the bottom of the housing; at least one panel of translucent material is placed above said upper surface of the solar panel is sealed to the side panels forming an enclosure for the opening of the housing; and pressure applying means for securing the edges of the adjacent panels in firm physical contact to ensure heat transfer between the adjacent panels by thermal conduction. The solar heat collector would typically be coated with a solar energy absorbent material on its upper exposed surface. In addition the fluid carrying conduit having a greater diameter than that of the relaxed channel diameter for securing the conduit within the channel by spring tension; and screw anchors for securing the edges of the panel in firm physical position to maintain said mechanical force between said channel and conduit as the temperature of the panel increases to insure heat transfer between said panel and conduit by conduction.

The present invention serves to collect solar energy for the purposes of heating and/or generating electricity for various purposes. The present invention uses a modular sheet metal surface with imbedded tubing to conduct thermal energy absorbed by a high absorption low emissivity painted surface. After pressing the tubes into the sheet metal or otherwise forming the metal snugly around the tubes, the sheet metal surface is formed to be welded to itself along the top of the tubes, thereby securely capturing the tubes and maintaining direct thermal conductivity between the sheet metal, the tube, and the fluid or gas flowing through the tubes into the solar collector circuit and reservoir circuit without the need for thermally conductive filler or adhesive, etc., clips, or other means found in the prior art for adhering a collector sheet to a fluid conducting tube. The collector modules can be scaled in length and width to increase solar collection coverage over areas of various size.

The solar collector can be configured for liquid coolant or phase change materials such as liquid/gas refrigerants, with the potential for a broad range of operating pressures. The solar collector may be housed in a roof mount or stand-alone configuration. A glazing profile, used in conjunction with a rubbery for example silicon extrusion, provides an efficient method of constructing the solar collector of the present invention.

The solar collector is built onto the supporting structure by laying down EPDM (Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer) roofing rubber membrane and then fastening a framework to the support, followed by insulation, aluminum foil, a black anodized or painted aluminum sheet that has been folded or otherwise formed about a plurality of copper tubes and welded along the fold seam along the top of the tubes so as to form an contiguous surface, with an air gap and a pane of glass.

In summary, the solar panel according to the present invention may be characterized in one aspect as including a circumferential upstanding rim and defining a cavity therein, an insulating layer mounted in the cavity and extending substantially completely across the cavity so as to abut the rim substantially contiguously around the rim, a heat-exchanger sheet made substantially of collector sheet metal overlaid onto the insulating layer and substantially entirely covering said insulating layer, at least one light-passing sheet overlaying the heat exchanger sheet and mounted to the rim at edges of the light-passing sheet, and an array of fluid transmission tubes mounted to the heat-exchanger sheet, the fluid transmission tubes conducting a flow of heat-exchanger fluid in a heat exchange circuit. The array of fluid transmission tubes are mounted to, so as to lay substantially flush along, the heat-exchanger sheet within a corresponding array of channels formed in the heat-exchanger sheet.

Each channel in the array of channels is wrapped snugly around each corresponding tube in the array of fluid transmission tubes for direct metal-to-metal heat transfer of heat from the heat-exchanger sheet to the array of fluid transmission tubes. Each channel when so wrapped forms a seam of adjacent, for example closely adjacent, folds in the heat-exchanger sheet along upper edges of each channel when formed into the snug wrapping around each corresponding tube. The seam is welded closed with a weld thereby tightening closed the seam as the weld and channel cools, and consequently tightening the snug wrapping of each channel around its corresponding tube.

Advantageously, the collector sheet metal is aluminium sheet, and the light-passing sheet, for example of glass, is maintained spaced above the heat-exchanger sheet so as to maintain an air gap therebetween. The aluminium sheet may be of a thickness less than or substantially equal to 24 gauge, wherein the thickness is sufficient for the weld to be welded to the seam.

In one embodiment the array of tubes is a substantially parallel array of tubes and wherein an inlet header and an outlet header are mounted in fluid communication with the array of tubes at, respectively, inlet and outlet ends of the array. The inlet end of the array is at an end adapted to be mounted elevated above the outlet end of the array, wherein the inlet header is a hollow member having an array of orifices each in fluid communication with a corresponding tube of the array of tubes for simultaneous metering of the fluid into each tube of the array of tubes.

In a further embodiment, the light-passing sheet is a plurality of glass sheets in a linear array mounted to the rim, wherein adjacent glass sheets in the linear array overlap along their common edges in the fashion of a shingled roof. In such an embodiment, the panel has an upper end and an opposite lower end and the upper end is adapted to be elevated above the lower end, so that the overlap between the adjacent glass sheets is a cascading overlap wherein a lower-most edge of an upper sheet overlaps on top of an upper-most edge of a lower sheet. For example, every overlap between adjacent sheets may be a cascading overlap.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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