Posts Tagged ‘Solar’

Thermo Siphon Air Panel from CoroPlast Solar Heat Feasibility

GreenPowerScience showed us how to make a Thermo Siphon Air Panel using a sheet of cardboard. Basically it’s a solar heater made out of cheap materials, which will create a natural air draft as it is heated by the sun; sucking cold air in the bottom, and exhausting warm air out the top. As per GPS’s suggestion at the end of his video, I took the concept a step further with a 4×8 sheet of 1/4″ coroplast which I spray painted black. The sheet had a tendency to warp as it warmed up and the lack of insulation on the bottom side allowed it to be cooled simultaneously. This was done on a day in December when we had an ambient air temperature of 60 degrees F. The panel warmed the air to 82 or 83 degrees F. The panel never got too hot to touch. In Pennsylvania, the sun is pretty low in the winter time. I worried about GPS’s shop vac motor added any heat gain to his experiment, but once you read the comments, you’ll find that while it did initially, after 2 minutes of running, the vaccume output was only 5 degrees higher than the ambient in the 89 degree range… so he was getting +40 degrees with the cardboard lying on the ground, on what I would guess was a warmer summer day with the sun high overhead. My next steps are to build a frame with multiple input and output ports, insulate the back of the panel with 2″ foam, and cover it with of sheet of lexan or plexiglass. I would love to heat my basement with one or two of these panels. Check out my channel for an upcoming video on …