Straight to the point! Such a design, on a sunny day, even at an outdoor temperature of -20 ° C, is able to warm up the air flow to +50 ° C. How such a solar collector works and how to make it yourself, read on.

Much has been said about the efficient use of solar energy to reduce the cost of heating residential buildings. However, the wide distribution offered for sale and is constrained by high prices for industrial equipment. Most homemade designs are either unreliable or very complex and expensive. But if, under the sun's rays, not a liquid coolant, but ordinary air is heated, then the design can be significantly simplified and its cost reduced to a minimum.

Structurally, a solar collector made of metal cans is a rectangular wooden frame with an insulated back wall and a transparent top cover made of polycarbonate. Inside it, there are several thin-walled aluminum pipes painted matte black, through which air is pumped.

Air for supply to the collector is taken from the lower part of the heated premises and then rises up through the heated tubes. A pressure difference between cold and hot air is created, which creates forced draft. This thrust is enough for the hot air flow to enter the room through the ventilation duct, replacing the cold one.

Option with forced ventilation by means of an electric turbine

In this version, the design can be used in the supply system of mechanical ventilation.

The fan is switched on by the thermostat when the temperature sensor signals to it that the air is sufficiently heated. If the air temperature is lower than the set one, the system does not work, thereby preventing the circulation of the cold coolant.

When working together with a heat exchanger, it will provide a normal temperature of fresh supply air without turning on the system air heater and save a significant amount of electricity.

Advantages and disadvantages

The main advantage of a solar collector made of metal beer cans is the low cost of the materials used and the possibility of self-manufacturing, even for a person who does not have great plumbing and installation skills. The efficiency of this device is such that it allows you to turn off the traditional heating system at an outdoor temperature above -3 ° C, which is at least a third of the entire heating season in the middle zone. The main advantage is energy savings for heating. However, there are also disadvantages.

pros	Minuses
Low price	No industrial production
No need for maintenance	The need for a specially designed air ventilation system in the house
Ability to make your own	Direct sunlight required

How it works, real use case

You can use this design even in an apartment

Self-manufacturing of the collector

This will require recycling material such as aluminum cans of beer, cola or other drinks, four boards, plywood, polycarbonate sheet or glass, some insulation and little effort in manufacturing. As a result, you will be able to get an alternative source of heat for heating your home and reduce the cost of purchasing traditional fuel.

Beer aluminum cans fit perfectly. The material itself is not subject to corrosion (and this is important since condensation can form on the walls) and conducts heat well. The inner surface is glossy and smooth, which allows heat to be reflected inside the tube and not released to the outside.

For work you will need:

• standard metal cans from beer or other drinks;
• plywood sheet 8-10 mm thick;
• 6 boards 30 mm thick;
• polystyrene or mineral wool mats 30-50 mm thick;
• sheet of cellular polycarbonate;
• matte black paint and glue for joining metal surfaces;
• fan and ventilation pipes.

The size of plywood, polycarbonate and board sheets depends on the planned area of ​​the collector. The beer metal can has a length of 150 mm and a main diameter of 65 mm. Therefore, the internal size of a structure of 15 pipes, each of which is made up of 12 cans, will be equal to:

• filling length with glued pipes 150 x 12 = 1800 mm;
• width 65 x 15 = 975 mm (can be rounded up to 980 mm);
• the size of the intake and exhaust compartments 975 x 100 mm;
• the width of the boards depends on the thickness of the thermal insulation material with the addition of the diameter of the cans - 95 or 115 mm.

So, for such a collector you will need a sheet of plywood and polycarbonate measuring 2120 x 1140 mm. Two boards 30 mm thick, 95 or 115 mm wide, 2120 mm long and 4 - 1140 mm.

Air pipe manufacturing

To assemble the air pipes, in our case, you will need 15 x 12 = 180 metal cans, beer cans from Coca-Cola or any other drinks are suitable. To prepare them, it is necessary to maximize the size of the drain hole and punch large holes in the bottom. The best option would be to completely remove the concave bottom and top cover. This is easily done on a grinder or to punch large holes with anything sharp.

After mechanical processing, the jars should be rinsed well to remove food residues and eliminate the appearance of an unpleasant odor.

The manufacture of a single pipe is carried out using a sealant, connecting the bottom of the can with the neck. Here you need to choose a heat-resistant option, since the temperature of the air in the tubes can be 90 ° C. Sealant for fireplaces is not suitable because it is fragile and may crumble over time. But, it is important for us to maintain the tightness of the pipe, so an elastic adhesive is needed. Something silicone-based is suitable, be sure to take it with a temperature margin of at least 200 ° C.

For each pipe, 12 cans are required. A total of 15 air ducts are manufactured. To simplify the work, you can make a guide fixture from two boards, knocked down at right angles along the length. Put this structure in the most vertical position and load the cans on top with something to improve the quality of gluing.

Housing assembly, insulation and pipe installation

The frame can be made in any size, depending on the place where you will mount it. However, the longer the pipes themselves that you install in it, the longer the air will go through them at the outlet and the higher its temperature will be.

A wooden box is assembled from 4 boards and a plywood or OSB sheet. Its bottom must be covered with foam or mineral wool mat. The insulation is fixed with glue.

To install the cans inside the case, it is necessary to make two holders from the boards. To do this, they drill 15 holes with a diameter slightly smaller than the main size of the can. In this case, the neck and bottom are inserted into the holes and the air ducts are securely fixed.

Installation of pipes from cans

To increase efficiency absorption of solar energy, the surface of the cans should be paint matte black(here you can use car primer, it adheres perfectly to the material and has a matte surface structure. It is also recommended to paint the wooden case to increase the durability of the structure. The top of the collector is closed with a sheet of polycarbonate or glass. The second option requires caution when working, but its surface will not fade over time and is much cheaper.

Two holes are drilled in the back or side wall of the box for connecting the supply air ducts. Their surface should be covered with a layer of thermal insulation to reduce heat loss. Already cooled air from the room is supplied to the lower part of the collector, and heated air is supplied through the upper compartment.

The manufactured heater can be installed on the southern wall of the building or on the roof slope. The thermal performance of such a device depends on its size and in each case can be selected individually.

Detailed video instruction on how to make it

This is an incredibly simple and inexpensive solar collector for additional home heating that heats the air directly. The most interesting thing is that the solar panel is almost entirely made of empty aluminum cans!

The body of the solar collector is made of wood (15mm plywood) and its front panel is made of Plexiglas/Polycarbonate (you can also use regular glass), 3mm thick. Glass wool or foam (20mm) is installed on the back of the case as insulation. The solar collector is made from empty cans of beer or other drinks, which are painted with a matte black paint that is resistant to high temperatures. The top part (lid) of the can is specially designed to provide more efficient heat exchange between the air and the surface of the can. (Please follow the technology!).

When it is sunny, regardless of the outside temperature, the air in the jars heats up very quickly. The fan returns the air back to the heated air and the room is warm.

Making a solar collector in 7 steps

1. Cooking jars
To begin with, we collected empty jars from which we will make solar panels. It is necessary to wash the jars as soon as they begin to spread odors. Attention! Cans are usually made of aluminum, but there are also some made of iron. Banks can be checked with a magnet.

A punch (or nail) is inserted into the bottom of each jar and neat holes are made, although you can drill it with a drill. The caliper is then inserted and distorted according to the pattern.


Instead, you can use special tools or large Phillips screwdrivers.
The top of the jar is cut with scissors and bent to form a "fin". Its mission is to promote turbulent airflow in order to collect as much heat as possible from the heated can wall. (Please observe the technology!) All this must be done before gluing the cans.

2. Remove grease and dirt from the surface of the jar. Any synthetic degreaser will work well enough for this purpose. Degreasing should only be carried out outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.
3. We plant jars on glue
The adhesive or silicone tape on the jar is resistant to high temperatures up to at least 200°C. There are also adhesive products that can withstand up to 280°C or 300°C. glue. A detailed section of the glued cans can be seen in the figure.

In order not to miss with the vertical-horizontal, it is better to make a template in advance from two boards knocked down with nails at an angle of 90 degrees. The template in the picture will provide support during the drying of the cans in order to obtain a straight tube - a solar tunnel.



The pipe must be fixed until the glue is completely dry.

4. We make a frame.
Inlet and outlet boxes are made of wood or aluminum 1mm thick; gaps in the edges are closed with adhesive tape or heat-resistant silicone. Round holes according to the size of the cans are made with a special nozzle for a drill, or with a drill.

5. We glue the box. The glue dries very slowly. Be sure to let it dry for at least 24 hours.

The body of the solar receiver is made of wood. The back of the solar collector box is made of plywood. In order to further strengthen the structure, you can make an inner wall.
6. Thermal insulation of the solar collector.
Insulation is applied between the sections - fiberglass or foam. All this is covered with a thin plywood lid. Pay special attention to the insulation around the air inlet and outlet of the solar collector.

7. Fixing the solar collector
Next, you should install the "ears" - fasteners with which the Collector is attached to the wall, and protect the wood with protective paint. Then an empty box must be placed on the wall and mark the place where there will be a hole for hot air to enter and cold air to exit. A pipe made of improvised material is inserted into the holes punched in the wall.


At the end of the work, the solar receiver is painted black and placed in a cabinet. From above it is covered with plexiglass, carefully fitted to the frame. Polycarbonate/Plexiglas should be (preferably) slightly convex to get more strength.

Important Note: This design cannot store the thermal energy it produces. If it is cool at night, then it is better to close the Collector, otherwise it will cool down. This can be solved in a simple way - by installing a valve or gate valve, which will reduce heat loss.

The differential thermostat controls the operation of the fan and turns on/off. This thermostat can be purchased from electronic component stores. The device has two sensors. One is installed in the upper warm air opening, the other is installed inside the lower cool air duct of the Manifold. If you correctly set the temperature threshold, the solar collector can produce an average of about 1-2 kW of energy for heating. It mostly depends on how sunny the day is.

A dress rehearsal of the solar collectors was done in the yard before installing the system at home. It was a sunny (see video) winter day, no clouds. As a fan, a small cooler was used, taken from a faulty power supply to the computer. After 10 minutes of sunlight from the solar collectors, the air temperature reached 70°C!

After completing the installation of collectors on the wall of the house, when the ambient temperature is from -3 ° C, 3 m3/min (3 cubic meters per minute) of heated air came out from the solar collector. The temperature of the heated air rose to +72 ° C. The temperature was measured using a digital thermometer. To calculate the power of the Solar Thermal Collector, we took the air flow, and the average air temperature - at the outlet of the unit. The calculated power given by the Solar Collector was approximately 1950 W (watt), which is almost 3 hp. (3 hp)!

Conclusion: Considering that the results are quite satisfactory, we can conclude that these homemade ones are definitely worth making. The collector can at least be used for the extra space you live in and it's up to you to work out and understand what savings can be made.

If you or your friends have accumulated a large number of aluminum cans, then do not rush to throw them away, because they can be used to make a solar collector for additional heating of your home. Instructions for the manufacture of this device can be found below.

The body for the solar collector will be 15 mm plywood, and the front panel will be plexiglass, polycarbonate or ordinary glass 3 mm thick. We attach glass wool or 20 mm polystyrene foam to the back of the case for insulation. Empty cans serve as a solar receiver. They are covered with black matte paint and are resistant to high temperatures. The top part (lid) of the can is specially designed to provide more efficient heat exchange between the air and the surface of the can.

In sunny weather, regardless of the air temperature, the air in the jars heats up quickly. The fan returns the air back with air heating and heats the room.

1. First you need to prepare the banks.

From the collected empty cans we make solar panels. As soon as the jars begin to spread odors, they must be washed. Most of the cans are aluminum, but there are also iron cans, which can be checked with a magnet.

We insert a punch or a nail into the bottom of the cans and make neat holes. Then we insert the caliper and distort it in accordance with the picture.

Large Phillips screwdrivers or special tools will do.

The top of the can is cut with scissors and bent to form a “fin”. This flux will help promote turbulent airflow by collecting as much heat as possible from the heated can wall. This must be done before gluing the cans.

2. Remove grease and dirt from the surface of the jar.

To do this, you can use any synthetic degreaser. This must be done in a ventilated area or outdoors.

3. Banks sit on the glue.

The adhesive or silicone tape on the jar is resistant to high temperatures up to at least 200°C. There are also adhesive products that can withstand up to 280°C or 300°C. glue. A detailed section of the glued cans can be seen in the figure.

A template made in advance from two boards, which will be knocked down at an angle of 90 degrees, will help not to miscalculate with the vertical-horizontal. The template provides support during the drying of the jars in order to obtain a straight tube - the solar tunnel.

The pipe must be fixed until the glue is completely dry.

4. We make a frame.

Inlet and outlet boxes are made of 1mm wood or aluminum; gaps in the edges are closed with adhesive tape or heat-resistant silicone. Round holes according to the size of the cans are made with a special nozzle for a drill, or with a drill.

5. We glue the box. The glue will dry very slowly, at least 24 hours.

The body of the solar receiver is made of wood. The back of the solar collector box is made of plywood. In order to further strengthen the structure, you can make an inner wall.

6. We produce thermal insulation of the solar collector.

Between the sections we use insulation - foam or fiberglass. We cover everything with a thin plywood lid. We pay special attention to the insulation around the air inlet and outlet in the solar collector.

7. Fixing the solar collector.

With the help of fasteners ("ears"), the collector is attached to the wall. Protective paint will help protect the wood. Then an empty box must be placed on the wall and mark the place where there will be a hole for hot air to enter and cold air to exit. A pipe made of improvised material is inserted into the holes punched in the wall.

We paint the solar receiver black and place it in a cabinet. From above we cover with plexiglass, carefully fitted to the frame. Polycarbonate or plexiglass should be slightly convex to get more strength.

Important Note: This design cannot store the thermal energy it produces. If it is cool at night, then it is better to close the Collector, otherwise the house will cool down. This can be solved in a simple way - by installing a valve or gate valve, which will reduce heat loss.
The differential thermostat controls the operation of the fan and turns on/off. This thermostat can be purchased from electronic component stores. The device has two sensors. One is installed in the upper warm air opening, the other is installed inside the lower cool air duct of the Manifold. If you correctly set the temperature threshold, the solar collector can produce an average of about 1-2 kW of energy for heating. It mostly depends on how sunny the day is.

A dress rehearsal of the solar collectors was done in the yard before installing the system at home. It was a sunny (see video) winter day, no clouds. As a fan, a small cooler was used, taken from a faulty power supply to the computer. After 10 minutes of sunlight from the solar collectors, the air temperature reached 70°C!
After completing the installation of collectors on the wall of the house, when the ambient temperature is from -3 ° C, 3 m3/min (3 cubic meters per minute) of heated air came out from the solar collector. The temperature of the heated air rose to +72 ° C. The temperature was measured using a digital thermometer. To calculate the power of the Solar Thermal Collector, we took the air flow, and the average air temperature - at the outlet of the unit. The calculated power given by the Solar Collector was approximately 1950 W (watt), which is almost 3 hp. (3 hp)!
Conclusion: Considering that the results are quite satisfactory, it can be concluded that these homemade solar panels are definitely worth making. The collector can at least be used for the extra space you live in and it's up to you to work out and understand what savings can be made.

Today, we throw a very large variety of packaging products into the trash can every day, however, some products can be a good source for doing all sorts of DIY crafts.

So, as an example, you can take an empty can of tin from lemonade or beer. For the most part, crafts from cans serve as a decor, but if you turn on your imagination and fantasy, you can build something useful and usable for the home.

Do-it-yourself lighting fixtures from cans

Practically any jar can be usefully used, for example, it is possible to make a very stylish and original shade for a lamp. Therefore, the first step is to remove the top of the bottom of the can, using ordinary scissors or a clerical knife.

If you have a penchant for drawing, then the jar can be colorfully painted or simply painted on the inside and outside. After that, it is necessary to mount a cartridge with a light bulb to the bank. Everything, a bright and unique lamp is ready for use.

You can also make an interesting and beautiful table lamp from beer cans, which can decorate the room with its unusual look.

So for the manufacture of a lampshade, it is necessary to use only the tongues from the cans, but for the lamp stand, you can use the tin itself. To connect all the tongues from the cans into a single and unified structure, a small incision must be made on each tongue, after which all the tongues must be connected to each other, and then the cut point must be reconnected.

Country interior decoration

A very interesting application for tin cans can also be found for country use. So, for example, they can be used in the manufacture of garden furniture, an armchair and a table, it is a very good idea to use empty aluminum cans.

So, in order to make a chair, you need to connect all the cans together using a very powerful and reliable glue. For a more stable position of the chair, and so that it does not deform from the weight of the person sitting on it, it is advisable to fill each jar with sand after gluing.

Can alcohol burner

Also, for many amateur travelers, it is very important to provide everything necessary for hiking, especially a burner. Therefore, many tourists independently make alcohol lamps from aluminum cans, which are quite capable of replacing a conventional gas burner.

It is worth noting that the weight of a home-made spirit stove hardly exceeds 50 grams, while a gas burner weighs about 3.5 kg.

Candlestick-flashlight from a beer can

So, to perform such crafts on the jar itself, you will have to make deep vertical cuts at a distance of 3-4 cm between them. This process is carried out with a sharp knife, it is necessary to cut carefully slowly, if necessary, you can use a ruler for a more even cut.

After the jar is cut, it must be gently pressed down a little from above, resulting in an interesting flashlight design. If you do not like the color scheme of the candlestick, then you can paint it yourself with a special spray in the color you need.

Butterflies from beer cans and other figurines

It takes a lot of patience to make this kind of craft. So, from an empty tin, you need to remove two bottoms. The result is a rectangular sheet of tin.

Note!

Carefully cut out the finished shape with scissors along the contour of the pattern, for example, a butterfly.

When the shape of the butterfly is ready, you can give it a more natural look, give the wings a little lively look and decorate the butterfly a little in a bright color.

Thus, before throwing away an empty aluminum can of beer or a drink, think, if you just turn on your imagination and imagination, then you can make useful crafts from tin cans, many beautiful and useful things that your relatives and friends will appreciate.

Photo crafts from cans

Note!

Note!

There is, perhaps, no person left on earth who has not heard about such an invention as a solar battery. Most of them have encountered them in everyday life. Many had a light energy calculator, and someone uses an alternative panel to supply their home with electricity. But few people know that you can create your own source of electricity from the most familiar things and at no special cost, and the proof of this is a solar battery from aluminum beer cans.

One of the lowest cost options

Making an autonomous battery from beer cans is perhaps one of the most affordable and cheapest ways. Even those who do not have enough elements available can easily find them in crowded places. The presence of cans is the main condition, since of all the other components you will need:

• wood base,
• insulation,
• plexiglass,
• some black paint
• sealant.

The process of assembling a light battery from cans, as well as the design itself, is very simple. For proper operation, it is necessary to hermetically connect the elements into a kind of pipe, put them in rows like a regular heating radiator in a house. It is recommended to insulate this entire structure from the back of the device with a heat insulator to prevent the loss of heated air. The front side of the entire installation is covered with plexiglass and this completes the entire assembly process. For better light absorption, it is advisable to paint the entire surface of aluminum cans in matt black. Paints with the appropriate parameters are sold at any auto shop, so there will be no problems here. The final touch will be the installation of an air fan as an engine for the energy carrier.

The ratio of costs and output indicators.

As the practice of creating such collectors shows, even on a cloudy day, such a solar battery can raise the temperature in a small room by 10-15 degrees. On sunny days, such a home-made collector from ordinary beer cans can heat up to a temperature of 70-80 degrees, which will significantly increase the efficiency of heating the room. Similar in terms of material costs is a rechargeable battery, which consists of ordinary foil.

The invention is far from tangible efficiency, but for someone who irresistibly wants to use really free energy, such a foil design is suitable. All this clearly shows that having the most ordinary things at hand, and in some places just rubbish in the form of aluminum cans, you can create absolutely free and reliable source of heat for your home.

The main ways of development of modern alternative sources.

Solar energy on a global scale is moving in a different way, which is almost completely opposite to the idea of ​​​​minimum production costs. Undoubtedly, scientists take into account the cost factor of panels, but the main direction of work is in the field of increasing productivity. That is why solar panels are constantly getting more and more new materials for their cells. For example, the most advanced solar cell to date is made from gallium arsenide. This crystal is almost five times more expensive than silicon, which is used to make conventional solar cells.

On the other hand, the performance of a panel using gallium arsenide is much higher, which makes such materials more attractive from an economic point of view. Derivatives from gallium and silicon can be represented as a ratio of initial electronic computing technologies and modern computers with powerful components. Thanks to the properties of gallium and its increased power, batteries made from this material take up much less space and generate electricity even on a cloudy day, which was not enough for conventional panels.

Future technologies.

In addition to improving the natural properties of gallium arsenide, work on the development of completely new light panels does not stop. One such development is nanotube solar panels. The idea of ​​using nanotubes as an accumulator of sunlight appeared quite recently. The unique ability of the invention is that it makes it possible to preserve the sun's rays. The solar energy accumulated inside the nanotubes can be stored for an arbitrarily long time without loss. The moment the device needs to be activated, it is enough to add a kind of catalyst and the nanotube structure will begin to produce energy in the form of heat. The advantage of using nanotubes is that the whole design does not require batteries to store excess energy.

The device combines all the necessary functions, which saves not only money, but also useful space at home. The discoveries of new horizons in solar energy make mankind less dependent on the usual sources of energy, which not only deplete our planet, but also pollute the world around us. That is why it does not matter what an autonomous battery of gallium or beer cans and paint consists of, the main thing is that these inventions help to improve alternative energy.