Solar Air Heaters are Active Solar Power right?
by admin on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 | 3 Comments
I am doing active solar power for my science project and am making a solar air heater.
It’s an example of active (not passive) right? I just want to be sure. Thanks.
I’d imagine
edit:
did the guy below me just spam his company’s photovoltaic cells which are totally irrelevant?
He said the heater would be passive (is he think of using a photovoltaic solar panel to power an electric heater? yes that would be passive)
I want to know how a passive air heater would work, how do you transfer hot air from the roof to the living space without a blower?
Sorry, chief, but solar heaters are passive solar power.
The difference between active and passive solar is in the use of mechanical energy to transport or transform the energy.
In this case, we are not ACTIVELY moving or transforming the heat, we are PASSIVELY allowing the heat to warm the air.
You could always consider Concentrator Photovoltaics.
It’s great to hear about solar projects in school! Heating with the sun can be passive or active. People design homes to take advantage of passive solar gain by orienting their houses in a certain way. With no active conversion of the sun’s energy to heat, this would be passive solar gain.
There are ways to capture the sun’s energy and provide heat. Solar air heaters are often a collector that trap solar heated air and then use a small fan to vent the air into a room. Solar ovens are also forms of solar heating. And to add my two cents – solar heating is an often overlooked but extremely practical and cost effective use of solar power.
Continue your research by looking up ‘solar thermal’ as well as solar heating. Good luck with the project!
Kristen
http://www.newenglandbreeze.com/