Hot Air Solar Collector Screen Absorber Construction – from Soup to Nuts
January 28, 2012
Tһіѕ short video details tһе entire process οf building a high performance, low cost, super easy аחԁ qυісk tο build, double layer screen absorber fοr a solar hot air collector.
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@johnlvs2run Hi, correct a hole in the screen isn’t needed. It will flow up through it at the base if it is at the back and then back through if it is tilted forward to the exit hole at the top. Don’t let the group activity scare you. We have a great collection of really friendly folks!
Thank you for the awesome videos. I like how you made this very simple design, which encourages me to do it myself. I guess that an intake hole in the screen is not needed. I joined simplysolar but that site is quite intimidating, 100 msgs a day and everyone seems like an expert. I’m interested to put up a solar hot air heater though and am just looking for a simple low cost design that works well.
@wrusst I just double checked the Simply Solar group. There aren’t any currently pending members. Please try subscribing again. We are looking forward to having you join us!
@GScottVideos i tried but could not get me email ok’d a while back
@wrusst There are lots of screen design possibilities! We really need more folks doing side by side tests to figure out the very best options. I did a WW pattern with screen also above and below the W. It seemed to work about the same, though the pressure drop was a bit higher. Please join us on Simply Solar if you are interested in more test results!
@tabhorian I’d like to do more tests for exact measurements, but I did run nylon screen and aluminum screen side by side. They were virtually identical. Nylon works fine since the heat is transferred directly to the moving air without having to travel anywhere.
Were you able to test it against the nylon screen for comparison? I’m interested in two things with this: 1. being that it is metal, I think the heat dissipation of it under use would be more even, since it would be conducted from hot to cool areas both by convection and conduction. 2. you can corrigate aluminum screen for larger absorption area.
Have you tried more than 2 screens I have read that you should have enough so not much light shines through.
You don’t need paint. Get charcoal black screens to begin with. By the way, I’ve had good success with regular outdoor paint, Rustoleum and even the cheap, QuickColor spray paint inside collectors.
If you are interested in comparisons, please join us on our Yahoo group – SimplySolar. There is a lot of information I can share with you there.
Nice project.
Anyone ever tried to put some solar paint on the screens to see how they perform?
@GrumpyMadman The screen absorber has a very low pressure drop, which means it is very easy to blow air through. I haven’t built a can collector here (I don’t have the time or patience for that), but I understand one criticism of the can collector is they have a high pressure drop (hard to blow air through). Of course it depends on conditions, but I typically see about a 60F temperature rise at about 80 CFM in a 32 square foot collector. A friend tried 3 layers and it was similar to two.
Looks very interesting, and as you say a very easy build. I built a beer can solar furnace and while it works well it was pretty labour intensive. I am curious as to what kind of air flow you can push through your box, while still getting good temperatures returned? If your internal box temp was say 200F in sunlight and you then pushed 200-300 CFM through the box, what you think the temperature of the air would be coming out of the box? Have you tried more than two layers of screen?
@GScottVideos Woow!… that’s supper interesting and can be an addition later if allowing the space initial builds.