Technical manual
Page 8 of 72
ST0133 – A 02/09
SOLAR
Although the location of the solar thermal system can be described using the longitude
and latitude of the installation, in practise the locality is being used to determine the
location of the system.
The effect of the orientation on the incident solar radiation levels can be seen from Fig-
ure 5.
3.3 Solar thermal system
3.3.1 Components of a solar thermal system
Although solar thermal systems cover a whole range of applications, see Figure 1, the
basic components used are in principle the same. A solar thermal system consists of:
- solar collector
- heat transfer medium
- pipe work
- pump and safety equipment
- heat exchanger
- storage facility
- control unit
- user
Applying the above to a domestic hot water system, the individual components are
identified in Figure 6.
Figure 6 – Solar system components overall view
heat
transfer medium
solar
collector
pipe
work
pump and safety
equipment
storage cylinder
with build in
heat exchanger
control
unit