Solar water-heating apparatus

Solar water-heating apparatus including

• a header having an inlet for water to be heated,
• a duct assembly adapted to be supported directly on a sun-exposed supporting surface,
• a manifold arranged to communicate with said header through said duct assembly,
• a hot water discharge outlet from said manifold,
• said duct assembly having a plurality of spaced-apart ducting members each being adapted to communicate with, for through-flow between, said header and said manifold through a respective one of a plurality of spaced-apart, plug-in connections provided along said header and said manifold,
• said header and said manifold being of elongated tubular form and adpated to be disposed in side-by-side relationship across said supporting surface and include a plurality of spaced apertures for said plug-in connections and each said ducting comprises an elongate plastic extrusion member including a pair of enclosed passageways extending therethrough, one said passageway being adapted to communicate at one end through said plug-in connection with said header and the other said passageway being adapted to communicate at its corresponding end through said plug-in connection with said manifold and there being provided transfer means cooperating with said ducting remote from said header and said manifold for transferring water from said one pasageway to said other passageway,
• said transfer means comprising a hollow body having a pair of tubular inlet-cum-outlet spigots each being adapted to be forced into sealing plug-in engagement with the bore of a respective one said passage-way for transferring water from the said one passageway to said other passageway, and wherein each said plug-in connection between said ducting and said header or said manifold is made by means of a tubular adaptor adapted to be forced into sealing engagement at one end with the bore of said passageway and at its other end into sealing engagement with the respective said aperture, and
• said supporting surface being a roof formed of a plurality of edge overlapping sheets each having a rectangular body portion extending between upstanding complementary side engagement portions whereby said sheet may be connected in operative edge-to-edge overlapping relationship with a similaar sheet at each side thereof and said rectangular body portion including a re-entrant recess extending parallel to said side engagement portions and arranged to closely accommodate therein said resilient ducting whereby the latter may be operatively retained in said recess by forcing said ducting through the entrance of and into said re-entrant recess.

Solar water heating apparatus including a header having

• an inlet for water to be heated, a duct assembly adapted to be supported directly on a roof or other sun-exposed supporting surface,
• a manifold arranged to communicate with said header through said duct assembly,
• a hot water discharge outlet from said manifold, said duct assembly having a plurality of spaced-apart ducting members each being adapted to communicate with, for through-flow between, said header and said manifold through a respective one of a plurality of spaced apart, push-fit plug-in connections provided along said header and said manifold,
• said header and said manifold being of elongated tubular form and adapted to be disposed in side-by-side relationship across said supporting surface and include a plurality of spaced apertures for said plug-in connections and each said ducting member comprises an elongate plastic extrusion member including a pair of enclosed passageways extending therethrough, one said passageway being adapted to communicate at one end through said plug-in connection with said header and the other said passageway being adapted to communicate at its corresponding end through said plug-in connection with said manifold and there being provided transfer means co-operating with said ducting member remote from said header and said manifold for transferring water from said passageway to said other passageway,
• said transfer means comprising a hollow body having a pair of tubular inlet-cum-outlet spigots each being adapted to be forced into sealing plug-in engagement with the bore of a respective one said passageway for transferring water from the said one passageway to said other passageway, and wherein each said plug-in connection between said ducting and said header or said manifold is made by means of a tubular adaptor adapted to be forced into sealing engagement at one end with the bore of said passageway and at its other end into sealing engagement with the respective said aperture.

Solar water heating apparatus including an inlet manifold, an outlet manifold and an absorber assembly through which fluid may pass from said inlet manifold to said outlet manifold and said absorber assembly being constituted by a plurality of elongate flexible ducting members supported directly on a metal roof, said metal roof comprising a plurality of roof sheets each having a rectangular body portion extending between upstanding complimentary side engagement portions whereby each said sheet may be connected in operative edge to edge overlapping relationship with a similar sheet at each side thereof and said rectangular body portion including a recess extending parallel to said side engagement portions for locating said flexible ducting members, each said ducting member having at least a pair of passageways extending longitudinally therethrough whereby each passageway of the respective ducting members may be operatively connected at its end adjacent said manifolds to a respective one of said inlet manifold or said outlet manifold by means of a push-in connector having a pair of spigot connector ends adapted to be forced into sealable engagement with said passageway and an aperture formed in said inlet manifold or said outlet manifold and there being provided a transfer duct assembly for each said ducting member, said transfer duct assembly having a pair of push-in spigot connector ends each adapted to be forced into sealable engagement with a respective one said passageway at the end of said ducting member remote from said manifolds to interconnect said passageways whereby liquid may flow from said inlet manifold through one said passageway for return to said outlet manifold through the other said passageway of each said ducting member.

Solar water heating apparatus including an inlet manifold, an outlet manifold and an absorber assembly through which fluid may pass from said inlet manifold to said outlet manifold and said absorber assembly being constituted by a plurality of elongate flexible ducting members supported directly in spaced side by side relationship on a tile roof and each being located in respective aligned recesses formed in overlapping tiles, and there being provided clip means adapted to be engaged between the sides of the respective tile recesses above said ducting members to secure said ducting members in said recesses and each said ducting member having at least a pair of passageways extending longitudinally therethrough whereby each passageway of the respective ducting members may be operatively connected at its end adjacent said manifolds to a respective one of said inlet manifold or said outlet manifold by means of a push-in connector having a pair of spigot connector ends adapted to be forced into sealable engagement with said passageway and an aperture formed in said inlet manifold or said outlet manifold and there being provided a transfer duct assembly for each said ducting member, said transfer duct assembly having a pair of push-in spigot connector ends each adapted to be forced into sealable engagement with a respective one said passageway at the end of said ducting member remote from said manifolds to interconnect said passageways whereby liquid may flow from said inlet manifold through one said passageway for return to said outlet manifold through the other said passageway of each said ducting member.

Solar water heating apparatus including juxtapositioned inlet manifold and outlet manifold and an absorber assembly through which fluid may pass from said inlet manifold to said outlet manifold and said absorber assembly being constituted by a plurality of elongate flexible plastic ducting members supported directly on a metal roof, said metal roof being formed from a plurality of metal sheets each having a rectangular body portion extending between upstanding complementary side engagement portions whereby each said sheet may be connected in operative edge-to-edge overlapping relationship with a similar sheet at each side thereof and wherein said rectangular body portion of each said sheet is provided with a recess which extends along said sheet parallel to said side engagement portions, each said recess being adapted to nestingly receive a respective said ducting member and having a width substantially equal to the overall width of said ducting member, and each said ducting member having at least a pair of passageways extending longitudinally therethrough whereby each passageway of each respective ducting member may be operatively connected at one end of said ducting member to a respective one of said inlet manifold or said outlet manifold and there being provided a transfer duct assembly for each ducting member to interconnect said passageways at their other end whereby liquid may flow from said inlet manifold through one said passageway for return to said outlet manifold through the other said passageway.