Rather than delete this blog I am simply updating it to say that innovation is something which involves doing things you have never done before and sometimes we get so close to a solution one way……..before we realise we need to go another way.
The penultimate prototype sits in my shed and demonstrates just how close you can get to welding flat sheets of thin stainless steel together and creating a solar panel. The panel would work but it is now obvious that we need to pre-form the sheets in a press before welding to get the consistency needed for a commercialised product.
In hindsight it is now known that the variability of prestressing the steel plate by welding the plate before pressure induced deforming, causes imprecise deformation and inconsistencies.
The welding machine is in storage and it is something I would like to return to armed with my new found knowledge.
The original blog is as follows:-
The concept of an ultra light, low cost, high efficiency, robust, ‘indestructible’ panel was thought to be achievable using polycarbonate, but the ‘robust’ and ‘indestructable’ parts of the equation failed when the black paint I used in trials to absorb energy caused the polycarbonate panels to go brittle.
A thick iron panel similar to a traditional radiator gave the simplicity I needed, but such a panel would take too long to heat up, was too heavy, and would be liable to rust.
I do not need to design a panel to take high pressures and extremely high temperature. Having worked in Industry for 30 years, the thought of water mixed with air at over 120 deg C and 4 bars of pressure which could catastrophically fail, scares the bejesus out of me. Traditional solar thermal as installed in most UK homes at present use pressurised systems, and even with safety devices I know safety devices can fail so they are and never will be for me.
I design systems that are intrinsically safe and do not rely on safety devices.
Stainless steel seemed perfect to give me the strength and durability I need. It will heat up quickly, has a very high strength even in thin sheets, and it will not rust.
Using stainless steel to produce the ‘perfect’ panel was seemingly impossible – that’s until I met Mark Smith of Newark Copper Cylinder Ltd
Mark demonstrated the skill within his company to be able to expertly weld the 0.5 mm stainless steel solar heat collectors, when other companies expressed doubt, and he pointed me in the direction of an induction welding machine which ticked all the right boxes. This in turn gave me the confidence to buy an induction welder and install it in his factory.
The welder was delivered on Wednesday and I visited the factory on Thursday 12th May.
The machine brings such a smile to my face because this opens the door to making the simple envelope of water I need to collect solar thermal heat generated with the panels.
