The Many Types of Solar Panels

There are many types of solar panels or solar collectors. Solar panels are actually flat solar thermal collector, which collect solar thermal energy then transform this into usable energy for solar water-heating systems, solar pool heaters, and solar space-heating systems.

Solar panels or collectors are the key element for any active solar-heating systems. The following are a brief list of some of the many types of solar panels.

Flat-plate collectors—are the most common type of collector and are used for solar water-heating systems as well as solar space heating. These collectors can heat liquid or air to temperatures below 180°F.

Evacuated-tube collectors—can reach temperatures from 170°F to 350°F. This ability makes them perfect for heating and cooling applications for commercial and industrial use. However, evacuated-tube collectors do have a disadvantage in that they are more expensive than flat-plate collectors, costing approximately twice as much.

Evacuated-tube collectors are constructed of a parallel of rows of transparent glass tubes that contains a glass outer tube, and metal absorber tube, which are attached to a fin. This fin is vital to the collector as it is covered in a coating, which both absorbs solar energy and reduces radiative heat loss. Any air that in the space between the two glass tubes is removed to create a vacuum, which removes conductive and convective heat loss.

Integral collector-storage systems—are also known as ICS systems. These systems consist of one or more black tanks or tubes located in an insulated glazed box. The solar collector preheats cold water as the water passes through. The system then continues to the conventional backup water heater. ICS systems are simple, reliable solar water heater systems. However, they should not be installed in areas that have prolonged freezing weather as the system can freeze in sever weather.

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