2. Low-temperature Solar Heat is Ideal for Many Industrial
Processes.
American Solar’s heating designs meet America’s largest
energy need – heating energy, which is 60% to 80% of all
the energy used in industrial applications.
3. The potential processes that can use the low-temperature heat
are as varied as the industries we can serve. Our systems can
provide heating to improve the efficiency of:
•Boilers
•Hot Water Systems
•Drying Processes
•Baking Processes
•Heat Pumps
4. •Deionized water
•Plastic pellets
•Chilled fruits and vegetables before
processing
•Paint booth fresh air supply for spray and
bake operations
•Hot wash down water for sanitary cleaning
•Desiccants for regeneration and humidity
control
5. Theory
Solar heating & cooling (SHC) technologies collect the thermal energy from the
sun and use this heat to provide hot water, space heating, cooling, and pool
heating for residential, commercial, and industrial applications. These
technologies displace the need to use electricity or natural gas.
In 2010, the U.S. saw 35,464 solar water heating systems and 29,540 solar pool
heating systems installed, heating a total of more than 65,000 homes,
businesses and pools.
Solar water heating systems are affordable for families. The return on
investment can be as little as 3-6 years. Commercial systems help companies
reduce and manage their energy bills, managing long-term costs. Meanwhile,
fossil fuel prices fluctuate considerably and are expected to rise significantly
over the next decade.
Water heating, space heating, and space cooling accounted for 72 percent of
the energy used in an average household in the U.S. in 2010 - representing a
huge market potential for solar heating and cooling technologies!
6. Solar water heating systems can be installed on most
homes in the U.S., and are comprised of three main
elements: the solar collector, insulated piping, and a hot
water storage tank. Electronic controls can also be
included, as well as a freeze protection system for colder
climates. The solar collector gathers the heat from solar
radiation and transfers the heat to potable water. This
heated water flows out of the collector to a hot water tank,
and is used as necessary. Auxiliary heating can remain
connected to the hot water tank for back-up if necessary.
7. Solar water heating collectors produce heat energy, distinguishing them from
photovoltaic (PV) modules which produce electricity. There are several types
of collectors: flat plate, evacuated tube, Integral Collector Storage (ICS),
thermosiphon, and concentrating.
Presently, solar energy conversion is widely used to generate heat and produce
electricity. A comparative study on the world energy consumption released by
International Energy Agency (IEA) shows that in 2050, solar array installations
will supply around 45% of energy demand in the world. It was found that solar
thermal is getting remarkable popularity in industrial applications. Solar
thermal is an alternative to generate electricity, process chemicals or even
space heating. It can be used in food, non-metallic, textile, building, chemical
or even business related industries. On the other hand, solar electricity is
wildly applied in telecommunication, agricultural, water desalination and
building industry to operate lights, pumps, engines, fans, refrigerators and
water heaters.
It is very important to apply solar energy for a wide variety of applications and
provide energy solutions by modifying the energy proportion, improving
energy stability, increasing energy sustainability, conversion reduction and
hence enhance the system efficiency. The present work aimed to study the
solar energy systems utilization in industrial applications and looked into the
industrial applications which are more compatible to be integrated with solar
energy systems.
8. Advantages of Solar Power Disadvantages of Solar Power
Solar energy is a clean and renewable
energy source.
Once a solar panel is installed, solar
energy can be produced free of charge.
Solar energy will last forever whereas it is
estimated that the world’s oil reserves
will last for 30 to 40 years.
Solar energy causes no pollution.
Solar cells make absolutely no noise at
all. On the other hand, the giant
machines utilized for pumping oil are
extremely noisy and therefore very
impractical.
Very little maintenance is needed to
keep solar cells running. There are no
moving parts in a solar cell which makes
it impossible to really damage them.
In the long term, there can be a high
return on investment due to the amount
of free energy a solar panel can produce,
it is estimated that the average
household will see 50% of their energy
coming in from solar panels.
Solar panels can be expensive to
install resulting in a time-lag of
many years for savings on energy
bills to match initial investments.
Electricity generation depends
entirely on a countries exposure to
sunlight; this could be limited by a
countries climate.
Solar power stations do not match
the power output of similar sized
conventional power stations; they
can also be very expensive to
build.
Solar power is used to charge
batteries so that solar powered
devices can be used at night. The
batteries can often be large and
heavy, taking up space and
needing to be replaced from time
to time.
