[RE-wrenches] Tube solar collectors

Joel Davidson joel.davidson at sbcglobal.net
Sat Jul 18 19:15:09 PDT 2009


Wrenches,

Solyndra claims that their tube collectors "perform optimally when mounted 
horizontally and packed closely together, thereby covering significantly 
more of the available roof area and producing more electricity per rooftop 
on an annual basis than a conventional panel installation." See 
http://www.solyndra.com/Products/Greater-Rooftop-Coverage

It is my understanding that a solar thermal or PV tube or flat plate 
collector's performance is based on the angle of incidence and that curved 
collector performance decreases as the angle of incidence moves away from 
perpendicular.

Does anyone have any field experience with solar thermal evacuated tube 
collectors or Solyndra PV to show that tubes perform better than flat plate 
collectors?

Joel Davidson 




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