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Solar heating system

  • US 4,603,685 A
  • Filed: 06/21/1983
  • Issued: 08/05/1986
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/21/1983
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A solar water heating system operating in a closed circuit and making use of a change of phase of a working fluid as a heat transfer medium, comprising:

  • at least one collector to be exposed to sunlight for transmitting radiant solar energy to the working fluid in order to convert said fluid into a liquid-vapour mixture, said collecotr having an inlet and an outlet through which the liquid-vapour mixture exits;

    a heat exchanger having an inlet and an outlet, said heat exchanger being of the type that allows free gravity flowing of the liquid that condenses therein;

    a hot water storage reservoir connected to the heat exchanger to recover and store the heat extracted from the working fluid in said heat exchanger;

    first piping means connecting the outlet of said at least one collector to the inlet of said heat exchanger, said first piping means including a phase-separator mounted thereon adjacent the outlet of said at least one collector to extract the liquid phase from the vapour phase in the liquid-vapour mixture exiting said collector;

    second piping means for returning the liquid phase extracted in said phase separator to the inlet of said at least one collector whereby said collector is constantly wet and the heat exchanger is supplied with the working fluid in vapour phase only through said first piping means;

    third piping means for connecting the outlet of the heat exchanger to the inlet of said at least one collector through the phase separator and said second piping means; and

    pumping means for returning the working fluid from the heat exchanger to said at least one collecotr through said third piping means, said pumping means being placed below the mean level of the liquid condensing in said heat exchanger to exclusively return the condensed liquid accumulated at the outlet of said heat exchanger to said phase separator through said third piping means wherein said pump comprises two concentric reservoirs spaced from each other so as to define a small volume therebetween, the internal reservoir being made of insulating material and the external reservoir being made of heat conducting material;

    said external reservoir being closed but connected to the outlet of said heat exchanger by means of a gravity feed pipe provided with an inlet unidirectional valve and also to the third piping means via an outlet unidirectional valve, said external reservoir being further provided with a vapour exhaust valve adapted to equilibrate the pressures between the gravity feed pipe and the pump during filling thereof;

    internal reservoir further enclosing a mechanism for sampling the liquid to be vaporized.

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