How is the thermal collector made?
The HRS SolarPlate flat plate solar thermal collector consists of a copper pipe structure, fitted to a flat absorber plate. The absorber plate is highly efficient due to the plate being superficially treated with a 'TiNOX' titanium layer. Solar collectors depend on solar radiation. They are efficient only when the sun is shining. The TiNOX absorber is different: it works efficiently even when the sky is cloudy. It works all the time: summer, autumn, spring and winter. The absorber plate on standard flat plate solar thermal collectors are generally painted black and are far less efficient that the SolarPlate absorber plate. Although a black surface is most efficient at absorbing solar radiation and converting it to heat, it is also highly efficient at re-radiating long wave infrared heat back out. These losses reduce collector efficiency. The collector structure is manufactured from stainless steel and the collector base is manufactured from weather resistant aluminium with 40mm wool rear insulation. The glass cover is highly transparent, made from low-iron, tempered glass.

How does the process work?
The SolarPlate flat plate collector captures the solar energy by employing the 'green-house' effect. The glass cover of the collector permits up to 90% of the visible sunlight to enter the collector. When this light passes through the glass cover, the frequency of the light is decreased to a lower energy level.
When the light hits the absorber plate, the light is absorbed as heat. The combination of the frequency change and the TiNOX surface on the plate captures the maximum amount of energy. As the absorber plate heats up, it begins to radiate energy as infrared or heat radiation. The glass cover traps the heat in the collector as the glass is essentially opaque to infrared waves, thus increasing the temperature and heating the water in the copper tube assembly. The heated water is then pumped to a coil (heat exchanger) within the storage vessel. When the solar-heated water drops below a certain temperature the solar pump stops circulating the water. The controls system switches to the gas or electric boiler to heat the water, as in a conventional system which heats the stored water by a separate coil in the vessel.