mini solar heater

System

If I had a 6 volt miniature solar panel and wanted to create some heat without a flow of water, what would I do?
Thanks...
John

BB.

Re: mini solar heater

Not quite sure of your question... A small panel (3-6 watt) could light a 3-6 watt light bulb (in full sun)...

If you wanted more heat, you would build a solar thermal panel with water, and use a small solar PV panel to power a DC water pump (move hot water from panel to hot water storage tank).

What do you want the heat for? Typically, a solar PV electric system is about 5x or more expensive than gathering the same heat using a solar thermal system (for example, to heat hot water using a solar thermal panel vs trying to use an electric water heater).

In any case, a small panel will not generate much electricity for heating (unless you want a small point source from a hot filament).

-Bill

LBergman

Re: mini solar heater

Also not sure what you're asking.

I'll just note that a dark-colored surface will generate heat sitting in the sun, so if your goal is to produce heat with a PV panel for an experiment, all you have to do is let it sit in the sun and "harvest" the heat normally generated somehow. You might use the electricity supplied by the panel to power a small fan to blow the heat off the panel to where you want it. Put some mass behind the panel so it would warm that and supply heat for a longer period of time.

This last winter, as part of a small "trial" solar electric system, I had a couple of 20 watt solar PV panels sit in front of my south-facing patio doors. Got a fair amount of electricity (the patio door glass cut around 30% from the output verses putting the panels outside), and gained some nice heat due to the sun heating up the panels, which helped warm the room.

I've been wondering for a while if was a (efficient) way to have an "indoor/outdoor" mounting scheme, so panels are inside during the winter where the electricity and heat are harvested, but outside during the summer when you don't want the additional heat. The kicker I think is getting thermally efficient glass that still lets close to 100% of the light through...