I am planning on building a passive solar heater for my garage. I was thinking about using aluminum heatsinks instead of pipe or cans, due to the surface area the fins would provide. Any advice, it seems like a good idea in my head.
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I am planning on building a passive solar heater for my garage. I was thinking about using aluminum heatsinks instead of pipe or cans, due to the surface area the fins would provide. Any advice, it seems like a good idea in my head.
If I remember right the cans allow for hot air to move through the sytem. Heat sinks would get hot but would absorb the heat, how would it generate the hot air to move into the space you want to heat?
I would use a fan to bring air in and then over the heat heat sinks. I'm thinking of basically a backwards air conditioner the air would heat as it channelled over the warm heat sinks and back into the room. I believe the term to describe what I am thinking is an air to air heat exchanger.
How about something like this?? There's tons of info available.
Types of DIY/homemade solar air heater
Here's a bunch of links,
home made window solar heater - AVG Yahoo Search Results
thank you for the links, I haven't seen the first one before. I'm just trying to build the smallest most efficient system I can. I'm just going to have have to build it and see if it is any better than the traditional models.
This may be a case of me trying to find a use for my favorite scrap. I don't even like selling them
I do mine a weird way that's not as good but cheap and effective at raising room temp about 15deg but I use black 2mil plastic its cheap and cover my window at the outer edge so its like a box not taped to the window glass itself. then I use 2 solar fans that are 2in small ones holes cut and taped off fans to the plastic drawing room air cold from the bottom and out through the top this way I still am not paying for electricity lol
An idea here...
If you were to build a box, and put the fins into the air flow, with the bottom, that would normally attach to the CPU chip, facing the sun. That might work, you'd basically be using it in the same manner as a computer.
thank you guys for the respinses.I just need to find some time to build some and see how it works.
Okay ... it sounds like you're going for convective heat ? You probably wouldn't need fans because hot air naturally rises and draws cold air in from the bottom of the collector to make up for it. It's a convective air current ?
Ever thought about using thermal mass instead ? Radiant heat is a lot more comfortable.
Why, they can usually bring around .60 a lb.Quote:
This may be a case of me trying to find a use for my favorite scrap. I don't even like selling them
Out here, it's way less than .60 per pound.
I'll have to try a little heater setup. It sounds like a cool project.
By the way, heatsinks can make great business card holders!