Solar Panels
What is a Solar Panel?
A solar water heating system, commonly known as solar panels or collectors, will use sunlight to produce hot water and has been used for years. The solar panels collect thermal energy from the sun and convert it into heat which circulates through the storage vessel which also works as a heat exchanger. Then is circulated back to the solar panels for re-heating. From the solar storage tank, the building’s heating system can call for hot water for either domestic use or heating. A boiler can be used as a back-up to heat the water further to reach the required temperature on less sunny days. The transfer fluid in solar panel pipes is commonly a water/glycol mixture to prevent pipes from freezing during winter times. The solar hot-water system’s pump is recommended to allow a minimum circulation at all time to secure no overheating of the collectors and keep water temperature at max. 100°C.
Solar panels will help to reduce energy consumption for water heating by 50-70% and are used on many different commercial buildings as well as dwellings.
How is a Solar Panel Application Optimized?
With proper balance, a solar panel may run efficiently while providing free heat for heating water for space heating or domestic use. FlowCon recommends the below solution to a solar panel installation:
Solar Panels with Automatic Balancing (ABV)
The dynamic/automatic balancing valve will react to system pressure changes and limit the flow of hot or cold water to required max. flow helping the system to be accurately controlled even with pressure changes.
→ Download Application Drawing Example
FlowCon recommends the following ABVs:
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If You are in doubt which Solution to choose to Your Application or how a specific product is working, please do not hesitate contacting FlowCon.
We will react as soon as possible, and written reply is normally within 8 hours if Your question is asked in English and during office hours. Other languages and requests asked during vacation time or weekends may experience longer response time. Likewise, for any special and out of standard requests, You may not see an immediate reply, but we are responsive.