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US 4,281,641 AGranted
Solar energy collecting system
AssigneeHeliotropin Engineering Corp.
InventorClyde W. Devore
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A solar energy collecting system comprising a reflective collector including a pair of parabolic portions which focus solar energy on to a pair of spaced focal lines coincident with the sidewalls of a heat exchange tube. The heat exchange tube is transparent to the solar energy and includes interiorly thereof an arrangement of fins which provide for an enhanced absorbtion of solar energy focused thereon and conduct solar heat to a heat exchange fluid within the tube.
Claims9
A solar energy collecting system comprising:
- (a) a reflective collector having a pair of substantially parabolic sections that are adapted to gather solar radiation and focus said radiation generally along a pair of focal lines;
- (b) a heat exchanger having a tube adapted for containment of a heat exchange fluid therein, said tube being triangular in cross section and substantially transmissive to said solar radiation and including a plurality of sidewalls, wherein each of said focal lines is coincident with one of said sidewalls;
- (c) a plurality of spaced solar radiation absorbing and thermally conducting fins within the interior of said tube, said fins being adapted to be heated by said solar radiation to conduct heat to said heat exchanging fluid, said fins extending from locations adjacent said tube sidewalls generally normal thereto, pairs of adjacent fins defining gaps which converge to lines of intersection of adjacent fins, and said fins having opposed surfaces between which solar radiation is repeatedly reflected;
- and
- (d) at least one tube within the interior of said heat exchanger, said tube being formed from a heat conducting material, said tube disposed in contact with said lines of fin intersection and adapted to accommodate a flow of a liquid heat exchange fluid therewithin.
2 more elements
A solar energy collecting system comprising:
- (a) a reflective collector having a pair of substantially parabolic sections that are adapted to gather solar radiation and focus said radiation generally along a pair of focal lines;
- (b) a heat exchanger having an outer tube adapted for containment of heat exchange fluid therein, said tube being substantially transmissive to said solar radiation and including a plurality of sidewalls, wherein each of said focal lines is coincident with one of said sidewalls;
- (c) a plurality of spaced sets of curvilinear fins within the interior of said outer tube, at least some of said sets including a plurality of fins that are tangential to one another at a common point;
- and
- (d) a plurality of inner tubes within the interior of said outer tube and adapted to accommodate a flow of said heat exchange fluid therewithin, at least some of said inner tubes being nested between and tangential to one of said spaced sets of fins, whereby said spaced sets are interconnected by said tangential inner tubes.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.