manual to specific component parts. The place-
ment of each component can be seen in system
schematic Figures 15a to 17b . A description
of each component and its function is found in
Section 10.
2) SYSTEM DESCRIPTION AND
OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLE
The key components in the SolaRay 2 solar
water heating system include the SunEarth solar
collector, solar storage tank with integral heat
exchanger, circulation pump, differential tem-
perature controller, expansion tank, pressure
gauge, mixing valve and the non-toxic propyl-
ene glycol heat transfer fluid (HTF).
The SunEarth solar collector is the heart of the
SolaRay 2 system. Simply stated, when the
sun is shining, heat energy is absorbed by the
solar collector’s absorber plate and transferred
to the HTF circulating through the solar col-
lector. The system pump efficiently circulates
this heated fluid through the collector piping
and integral tank heat exchanger. The heat
exchanger consists of coiled tubing internal
to the solar storage tank. As the HTF passes
through the heat exchanger the heat in the fluid
is transferred by conduction to the potable water
in your solar storage tank. This process is con-
tinuously repeated during the average sunny
day as the temperature in your solar storage
tank rises.
The differential temperature controller is the
brain of the system. The controller uses tem-
perature sensors to constantly monitor the tem-
peratures at the collector and at the tank. The
controller automatically turns the pump on
when useful heat is available at the collector
and turns the pump off when there is insuffi-
cient solar heat available or the tank has reached
maximum temperature.
Both single and double tank SolaRay 2 systems
are designed to provide two modes of operation.
The system will, (1) serve as a preheater to your
solar storage tank or back-up water heater, or
(2) bypass the solar collector and run 100% on
utility energy or conventional fuel. The instal-
P.4
fig. 1
COLLECTOR ORIENTATION
