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Active solar technologies are employed to convert solar energy into usable heat, cause air-movement for ventilation or cooling, or store heat for future use. Active solar uses electrical or mechanical equipment, such as pumps and fans, to increase the usable heat in a system. Solar energy collection and utilization systems that do not use external energy, like a solar chimney, are classified as passive solar technologies.
Solar hot water systems, except those based on the thermosiphon, use pumps or fans to circulate water, an anti-freeze mixture, or air through solar collectors, and are therefore classified under active solar technology. The solar collectors can be nonconcentrating or 'flat-plate', or of various concentrating designs. Most solar-thermal collectors have fixed mounting, but can have a higher performance if they track the path of the sun through the sky. Solar trackers, used to orient photovoltaic arrays, may be driven by either passive or active technology.
Solar technology comparison
Active solar-thermal systems, via small pumps or fans, can have significantly higher solar savings fractions than passive solar technologies due to greatly-enhanced heat transfer and transport. An interesting hybrid approach is to use photovoltaics to power pumps or fans.1 A computer analysis, using thermodynamics and heat transfer software, can be used to compare the performance of various active and passive solar thermal strategies
See also
- Autonomous building
- Architectural engineering
- Passive solar
- Renewable energy
- Renewable heat
- Solar Power
- Solar Chemical
- Zero energy building
Notes
- ^ "Active Pumps". Solar Thermal.
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 1 January 2009, at 22:34.
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