Fluid-heating solar panel

摘要

A solar panel comprises an extruded plastics matrix (20) comprising a plurality of side-by-side compartments each of which provides an fluid-flow channel which may contain metal pipework 18, or alternatively each compartment may include a filler to define a fluid-flow channel between the upper surface of the filler and the lower surface of a membrane (28) of the matrix. The cross section of each compartment may be optimised to the fluid-flow channel size requirements. At least part of a surface of each fluid-flow channel has a covering comprising a solar radiation absorber; for example, the absorber may comprise a channel-shaped foil which exhibits high absorbence of solar energy together with low emittance of infra-red radiation. If separate metal pipework 18 is used each pipe may partially surrounded by a reflector (34.)