Roof integrated solar heating system with glazed collector

Solar space heating is a proven effective method to reduce conventional energy requirements for domestic heating. However producing a low cost collector design which is commercially viable has been difficult. Research has been conducted into using a corrugated steel roof to function as an unglazed air collector. This research revealed that, although economical, due to the low performance of such a collector it was doubtful that the system could deliver meaningful energy savings. As such investigations have been made into glazing the collector with a low cost commercially available glazing material. A mathematical model of the glazed collector and the system have been developed. The model indicated that, with a glazed collector, the system performance significantly improved and used less conventional energy than a standard heat pump and gas heater under standard winter conditions in Adelaide Australia. Glazing was found to improve the cost effectiveness of the system but further work was needed to deliver higher energy savings. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.