Solar thermal panels are devices that convert solar radiation into heat and transfer it to a heat transfer fluid (typically water or an anti-freeze fluid) to be stored or to reach the point of use.
Source: Jafari S, Sohani A, Hoseinzadeh S, Pourfayaz F. The 3E Optimal Location Assessment of Flat-Plate Solar Collectors for Domestic Applications in Iran. Energies. 2022; 15(10):3589. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15103589
FPC is the main solar collector technology installed in Europe with more that 2 million m2 installed per year [1]. FPCs are suitable for low-medium temperature applications including domestic hot water, heating, preheating and combined systems. In buildings FPC can be used both as a direct system or an indirect system. In the first case, cold water in a storage tank is pumped and heated directly through the collector. However, in passive system (thermosiphon) can be employed avoiding the use of the pump and using the force of gravity and the buoyancy effect of water at different temperatures. In these systems a horizontal tank are employed and placed above the collector. In an indirect system a heat transfer fluid in a closed loop is heated by the collector and used to transfer thermal energy to the water through a heat exchange. FPC can be also used in cities to provide renewable heating at district level being an effective solution when they operate at low temperatures [2] . FPC consists of tubes carrying a heat transfer fluid placed in an insulated, weather-proof box with a dark absorber material and thermal insulation material. FPC can be installed as a thermosiphon system, in which the circulation of the heat transfer fluid is induced by the density difference caused by the increase of temperature, or as an active system with a pump [3]. The simplicity of construction makes FPCs a relatively low-cost solution, which can be installed as single modules on roofs, or manufactured in a larger format for roof or facade integration or for ground-mounted systems. For the production of FPC, different materials can be used including copper, aluminium, stainless steel combined with a glazing to achieve a high efficiency.
Source: https://www.onosisolar.com/solar-collectors/flat-plate-solar-thermal-collector/
MATURITY:
FPC is a mature technology available on the market (TRL 9) suitable for domestic applications such as the production of domestic hot water which represents more than 90% of the global market [3]. FPC can also be used for space heating or space cooling when coupled with liquid desiccant based air conditioning systems [4]. FPC can also be employed in pool heating, drying applications [5], or large scale heating systems including district heating [6] with more than 340 systems installed around the world [2].
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