BIPV Demo Project – Solar Thermal-Part 1

Based on the R&D roadmap created in 2018, we have constructed a complete BIPV solar home energy system. The solar thermal portion of the system is shown in the diagram below, and further described in the following sections and images.

Section 1.  Air based OM solar HVAC system:

1. Able to heat/cool the house through thermal storage in 5,000 standard water bottles located between floors.
2. Pre-heat solar thermal centre for efficient operation through OM solar heated water tank.
3. Provide heat for de-icing the garage rooftop BIPV panels.

Section 2.  Water based SUNRAIN solar glass tube collector system:

1. Provide heat to domestic solar tank, the solar thermal centre of the house.
2. Heat the pool in summer.
3. Heat battery room during winter using the pool heat exchanger.

Section 3.  Create Solar thermal centre:

1. Capture heat from air-based OM HVAC system through pre-heat tank.
2. Capture heat from water-based Sunrain vacuum tube collectors.
3. Distribute heat to OM solar water heater backup, in-floor heating, RIPV de-icing (solar driveway and walkways), 2 furnaces on separate floors, in-wall heated baseboards, and further R&D purposes.
4. Energy distribution centre as shown in the manifold diagram and photo below:

Section 4.  RIPV thermal heat generation and de-icing

We have achieved thermal heat generation and de-icing for our solar driveway and sidewalk (RIPV), using the manifold system shown below. Further descriptions of this succesful project can be found in previous posts.