Patent Application
20080308152
Many solar collectors and methods of their use and manufacture exist today. These solar collectors are often used to turn solar radiation into electricity. In one existing solar collector, the solar collector may include a reflective surface, a solar cell, a heat pipe, and a plurality of cooling fins. The reflective surface, which may be a lens or shaped reflective surface, may reflect and magnify sunlight to the solar cell which may turn the solar radiation into electricity to power a device. This may allow for the most expensive part of a solar collector, the solar cell, to remain small to provide an affordable device. The magnification of the suns rays over the small solar cell may cause a substantial heat load into the solar cell. This solar collector arrangement may operate efficiently as long the solar cell does not overheat. The heat pipe may be attached to the solar cell. The cooling fins may be attached to the heat pipe at a perpendicular angle relative to the heat pipe. As the solar cell becomes hot, the excess heat may be transferred from the solar cell to the heat pipe. Fluid within the heat pipe may be heated to a vapor, the vapor may heat the interior surface of the heat pipe, the heated surface of the heat pipe may transfer heat to cooling fins, and the cooling fins may transfer heat to the ambient air around the heat pipe by means of natural convection.
However, due to the perpendicular nature of the cooling fins with respect to the heat pipe, the convective heat transfer rate from the heat pipe to the ambient air may be reduced under certain conditions. For instance, when the sun is directly overhead of the solar collector, the solar collector is parallel to a ground surface, and there is no breeze of ambient air around the heat pipe, the perpendicular configuration of the cooling fins relative to the heat pipe is not conducive to cooling of the heat pipe through convection to the ambient air. This is because the parallel alignment of the cooling fins with respect to the ground makes it more difficult for the heated ambient air to rise. In this circumstance, the solar cell may be damaged due to the heat pipe not being able to transfer sufficient excessive heat to the ambient air. Additional problems may exist with this or other types of solar collectors.
A solar collector, method of use, and/or method of manufacture is needed to decrease one or more problems associated with one or more of the existing solar collectors and/or methods.
In one aspect of the disclosure, a solar collector comprises a heat pipe and at least one cooling fin. The at least one cooling fin is attached to the heat pipe at a non-perpendicular first angle relative to the heat pipe.
In another aspect of the disclosure, a method is provided of transferring heat from a solar collector. In one step, a solar collector is provided comprising a heat pipe, at least one cooling fin, and a solar cell. The at least one cooling fin is attached to the heat pipe at a non-perpendicular first angle relative to the heat pipe. In an additional step, sun rays are reflected to the solar cell. In yet another step, excess heat is transferred from the solar cell to the heat pipe. In an additional step, heat is transferred from the heat pipe to ambient air outside of the heat pipe through convection.
In a further aspect of the disclosure, a method is provided for manufacturing a solar collector. In one step, a heat pipe and at least one cooling fin are provided. In another step, the at least one cooling fin is attached to the heat pipe at a non-perpendicular first angle relative to the heat pipe.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the disclosure will become better understood with reference to the following drawings, description and claims.
The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out the disclosure. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the disclosure, since the scope of the disclosure is best defined by the appended claims.
In the embodiment shown in
In order to show a close-up of one of the solar collectors 20,
Each of the plurality of cooling fins 30 may be attached to the heat pipe 28 at a non-perpendicular first angle 40 relative to the heat pipe 28. The cooling fins 30 may be curved, circular, elliptical, polygonal, rectangular, and/or of another type, shape, or size. Ten to twenty cooling fins 30 may be attached to each heat pipe 28. In other embodiments, any number of cooling fins 30 may be attached to each heat pipe 28. The cooling fins 30 may be made of copper, steel, or other conductive material. The non-perpendicular first angle 40 may range from 1 to 45 degrees. In one embodiment, the non-perpendicular first angle 40 may range from 1 to 10 degrees. In another embodiment, the non-perpendicular first angle 40 may range from 10 to 20 degrees. In still another embodiment, the non-perpendicular first angle 40 may range from 20 to 30 degrees. In yet another embodiment, the non-perpendicular first angle 40 may range from 30 to 45 degrees. In other embodiments, the non-perpendicular first angle 40 may comprise any angle which is not perpendicular to the heat pipe 28.
In order to limit and/or avoid damage to the solar cell 24 due to excessive heat, the solar cell 24 may be adapted to transfer excess heat to the heat pipe 28. As shown in
The non-perpendicular first angle 40 of the cooling fins 30 may allow the rate and/or amount of convection heat transfer 43, from the heat pipe 28 to the ambient air 42, to be increased over existing cooling fins which are perpendicular to a heat pipe, due to the heated ambient air 42 being forced to flow from a low point 44 to a high point 46 in each cooling fin 30 due to the effect of heat rising. This may allow a more rapid and/or more extensive transfer of excess heat away from the solar cell 24, thereby helping to further limit and/or avoid damage to the solar cell 24 due to excessive heat. This is especially important in the embodiment of
Moreover, the non-perpendicular first angle 40 of the cooling fins 30 may allow the rate and/or amount of convection heat transfer 43, from the heat pipe 28 to the ambient air 42, to be increased over existing cooling fins which are perpendicular to a heat pipe, regardless of the positions of the solar collectors 20, regardless of the position of the sun 14, and regardless of whether the ambient air 42 around the heat pipe 28 is blowing. For instance, the heat transfer 43 from the heat pipe 28 to the ambient air 42 may still be increased in the embodiment of
Similarly, the heat transfer 43 from the heat pipe 28 to the ambient air 42 may still be increased in the embodiment of
In another step 152, sun rays 12 may be reflected to the solar cell 24. In still another step 154, excess heat from the solar cell 24 may be transferred to the heat pipe 28. In an additional step 156, fluid 34 within the heat pipe 28 may be heated to a vapor 36. In still another step 158, heat may be transferred from the vapor 36 to a surface 38 of the heat pipe 28. In an additional step 160, heat from the heat pipe 28 may be transferred to ambient air 42 outside of the heat pipe 28 through convection 43. The use of the non-perpendicular first angled cooling fin 30 may increase the amount of convection 43. During the convection process 43, the solar collector 20 may be parallel to a ground surface 21, the sun 14 may be directly overhead of the solar collector 20, and the ambient air 42 around the heat pipe 28 may not be blowing. In still other embodiments, heat may be transferred through convection 43 from the heat pipe 28 to the ambient air 42 around the heat pipe 28 regardless of the position of the solar collector 20, regardless of the position of the sun 14, and regardless of whether the ambient air 42 around the heat pipe 28 is blowing.
One or more embodiments of the disclosure may provide one or more of the following advantages over one or more of the existing solar collectors and/or methods: increased cooling (i.e. heat transfer) of the heat pipe 28 and/or solar cell 24; reduced damage and/or costs created by excessive heating of the solar cell 24; increased convection 43 from the heat pipe 28 to the ambient air 42 around the heat pipe 28 regardless of the position of the solar collector 20, regardless of the position of the sun 14, and regardless of whether the ambient air 42 around the heat pipe 28 is blowing; and/or one or more other types of advantages over one or more of the existing solar collectors and/or methods.
It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the disclosure and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the following claims.
