MatrixAir Transpired Collector

Solar air heating and ventilation air heating

How the MatrixAir™ Transpired solar air heating system works

The transpired solar air heating collector is mounted several inches from the building’s outer south, east or west wall. The cladding is covered with tiny perforations to allow outside air to travel through its face. During the day, as outside air passes through the panel, it absorbs the solar generated heat which increases between the two walls to be drawn into the building’s ventilation system. At night, the wall becomes a huge heat recovery unit as the heat loss passing through the wall is picked up by the incoming air and brought back into the building. Once inside, the air is distributed through the perforated ducts to destratify the heat, which accumulates at the ceiling, thus reducing heat loss through the roof and exhaust while providing uniform air distribution and temperature.

During sunny days, the preheats intake air by 30° to 50°F (17°-30°C), depending on the flow rate. Snow can reflect up to 70% of solar radiation. About 40% of this radiation is reflected on the cladding surface, further increasing the system’s performance. The MatrixAir™ TR (Transpired) solar air heating system also works on cloudy days, since the diffused light can represent up to 25% of the total solar radiation available on a sunny day.

MatrixAir™ Solar Air Collector : Bottom air outlet benefits

MatrixAir™ TR solar air heating is an active solar thermal system requiring a mechanical means of moving the air through the perforations then downward in the air cavity behind the cladding and into the building. Since MatrixAir™ TR solar air collector is not a thermosyphon the natural upward movement of heated air has little if any impacts on our systems’ performance in winter preheat operation.

The unique lower air outlet feature of the MatrixAir™ Transpired Solar Air Heating system offers a number of advantages:

• Convection and radiation heat losses at the extremities of the solar air heating collector are minimized,
• The lower position of the bypass damper greatly reduces the hot air short-circuiting the system during summer operation,

• The integration of hybrid system heat exchangers or seasonal storage is greatly facilitated due to the proximity of the solar air heating collector’s outlet to such equipment,
• The combination of our lower air outlet and use of the perforated framing stimulates increased air turbulence within the solar air heating collector thereby increasing the heat gain,
• It complements our inclined solar air collector design. Even slight collector inclination increases solar gain. For example, in moderate climates the slight change in the inclination of the collector from 90°C to 88°C yields an increase of 3% in annual energy production. The deeper cavity resulting from this inclination enables a more uniform heat gain across the collector surface and creates the internal plenum required of the greater air volume moving adjacent to the outlet thus reducing the energy load of air handling equipment.

MatrixAir™ TR solar air heating systems may not be suitable for some special building configurations. Exterior walls with high aspect ratios may not readily lend themselves to the MatrixAir™ design. (Depending upon the location of the HVAC equipment the incorporation of an air duct exterior to the collector will be required.)