What is a flat solar collector?

With the global development of energy-efficient buildings, flat-panel solars have gradually replaced vacuum tube solar energy and become a core component of energy-efficient buildings. The flat-panel solar collector has a beautiful appearance and reasonable layout, and is the biggest contributor to the integration of solar energy and building. What is a flat solar collector, and what is the working principle of a flat solar collector?

What is a flat solar collector?

A flat-plate solar collector is a device that absorbs solar radiation energy and transfers heat to the working medium. It is a special heat exchanger in which the working medium in the collector exchanges heat with a distant sun. Flat-plate solar collectors are one type of solar collectors. It consists of a heat absorbing core, a casing, a transparent cover, insulation materials and related components. After adding the circulating pipe and the insulated water tank, it becomes able to absorb the solar radiant heat and raise the water temperature.

The working principle of the flat solar collector:

The basic working principle of flat panel solar collectors is very simple. In a nutshell, the sunlight is irradiated onto the surface of the heat absorbing body coated with the absorbing layer through a transparent cover plate, wherein most of the solar radiation can be absorbed by the absorber, converted into heat energy, and transmitted to the working fluid in the fluid channel. In this way, the cold working fluid from the bottom of the collector is heated by the solar energy in the fluid passage, the temperature is gradually increased, and the heated hot working fluid is discharged from the upper end of the collector with the useful heat energy. The use of water in the tank is a useful energy gain. At the same time, due to the increase in the temperature of the heat absorbing body, heat is dissipated to the environment through the transparent cover and the outer casing, thereby constituting various heat losses of the flat solar collector. This is how the flat solar collector works.

Flat solar collector features:

The flat type solar collector has simple structure, reliable operation, low cost, low heat flow density, that is, the working temperature is low, safe and reliable, and it has strong pressure bearing capacity and heat absorption compared with the vacuum tube solar collector. The large area and other characteristics are the type of collector that is the best choice for solar energy and building integration.

By understanding what is a flat-panel solar collector and the working principle of a flat-panel solar collector, we know that flat-panel solar water heaters play an irreplaceable role in solar energy and building integration by virtue of their inherent advantages in combination with buildings. At present, flat solar collectors have been widely used in various enterprises, hotels, factories, schools, etc.