Title: Solar heater with bondless honeycomb heat trap

Abstract: A solar heater including a housing having a transparent front wall for passing incident solar radiation, a radiation absorbent collector element positioned in the housing and arranged to accept incident solar radiation passing through the front wall, means for passing a fluid medium to be heated through the housing in heat transfer relationship with the collector element and a transparent heat trap disposed in the housing between the collector element and the front wall. The heat trap is made from a cellular structure containing a multiplicity of adjacent cells having walls which are integrally formed with the walls of other cells in one continuous piece from a thermoformable material. The thermoformable material used for the heat trap may be glass or a clear plastic composition which is opaque to infrared radiation emitted from the collector element.

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Inventors: Mccullough, Robert W. (Tarrytown, NY)
Hewett, Thomas A. (Chappaqua, NY)

Application Number: 06/141475
Filing Date: 1980-04-18
Publication_date: 1982-06-15
Assignee: UNION CARBIDE CORP

Primary Class(es): 126/650 126/674, 126/709
Other Classes: F24J2/26; F24J2/28; F24J2/50; F24J2/00; F24J2/04; F24J3/02
US Patent Ref:

3875925	April, 1975	Johnston	126/435	Solar heater
4018211	April, 1977	Barr	126/439	Solar energy collection and transfer arrangement and method, and method of assembly
4019496	April, 1977	Cummings	126/449	Collecting solar energy
4034736	July, 1977	Telkes	126/432	Solar heating method and apparatus
4062352	December, 1977	Lesk	126/445	Solar fluid heater
4068361	January, 1978	Root	126/444	Self-jigging method of fabricating solar collector heat trap from flexible plastic roll material

Other Refs: Other References: Hollands, "Honeycomb Devices in Flat-Plate Solar Collectors", Solar Energy, vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 159-164 (1965).
Chun et al., "Effect of a Mylar Honeycomb Layer on Solar Collector Performance", presented at the 1974 Winter ASME meeting, Paper No. 74-WA/HT-11.
Marshall et al., "Use of Lexan and Kapton Honeycombs to Increase Solar Collector Efficiency", presented at National Heat Transfer Conference, Aug. 8-11, 1976.
Baldwin et al., "Performance of Transparent Glass Honeycombs in Flat Plate Collectors", School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles, California.
Buchberg et al., "Design Considerations for Solar Collectors with Glass Cylindrical Cellular Covers", University of California, Los Angeles, California.

Primary Examiner: Jones, Larry
Assistant Examiner:
Attorney: Wamer, Gary L.

Parent Case Data:

This application is a continuation of our prior U.S. application Ser. No. 824,105 filed on Aug. 12, 1977,