Page 298 - A Comprehensive Guide to Solar Energy Systems

302 A ComPreHenSIVe GuIde To SolAr enerGy SySTemS

attached to the roof and securely locked down. They are then plumbed to the in-house
connecting lines. once installed a roof can either be finished with slates for the surround-
ing edges or left as is with an asphalt shingle roof.
The energy harvesting mechanism of the BITer is illustrated in Fig. 14.3, the liquid go-
ing through the thermal system is being pumped and circulated throughout the sloping
roof. The thermal energy is being captured and transferred to the heat exchanger that can
provide domestic hot water. meanwhile, dC electricity is being generated by the SunSlates
and feed-in to the power grid through the inverter or the batteries if the customer prefers
a standalone system.
For a SunSlates system, once all strings are checked and if they reach the acceptable
power, they will be connected to the inverter. Then the PV system would be turned on
and it would start supplying AC power to the grid. In the case of a standalone system, the
strings could be connected to the battery via a charge controller and start storing electric-
ity that could be used to power the dC appliances and lighting applications.
one of the pilot projects of the BITerS is shown in Fig. 14.4. The BITerS thermal sys-
tem uses a pump to circulate the thermal liquid throughout the system. As the intensity of
the solar power increases so does the throughput of the liquid in the thermal tubing, re-
sulting in the generation of more thermal energy. In addition, while heat is being extracted
through the thermal tubing from the SunSlates. The SunSlates are being cooled thus pre-
venting the loss of efficiency in converting sunlight to dC and ultimately AC electricity.
Furthermore, as much thermal energy had been taken out from the attic, the house would
be cooler which results in reduction on the air conditioning energy consumption. In case

FIGURE 14.3 Operation of the BITER system in a building.