System for capturing and converting solar insolation into thermal, kinetic and electrical energy

Abstract

A selective / reflective solar screen, shade and panel system includes a woven material that creates a plenum between itself and a building envelope. The woven material may selectively admit solar energy into the plenum during the winter months and block the solar energy from it during the summer months. The system captures the solar insolation between the woven material and the building envelope so that it can be used as a source of renewable energy for heating the building. This air can be vented to the exterior so that the building envelope is shaded from the summer sun, which offers a substantial reduction in air conditioning costs.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. Provisional patent application No. 61 / 284,010, filed Dec. 11, 2009 and U.S. Provisional patent application No. 61 / 326,463, filed Apr. 21, 2010, both of which are herein incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to renewable energy systems and, more particularly, to a system for capturing and converting solar insolation into thermal and kinetic energy.[0003]Passive solar energy systems are extremely effective, but are difficult to control during the summer months without an expensive and elaborate shading system. One example of a conventional passive solar energy system is a transpired solar collector mounted a few inches from a building's outer wall. The wall panel includes perforations to allow outside air to travel through the face of the panel. Solar heated air at the surface of the panel is drawn through the perforations where it ris...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

"The present invention is a system that controls the amount of sunlight that enters a structure through a weave of fabric. This weave is placed at a specific distance from the structure to create a space between them. The technical effect of this invention is that it provides a way to manage the amount of sunlight that enters a structure, which can help to improve its energy efficiency."

Problems solved by technology

Passive solar energy systems are extremely effective, but are difficult to control during the summer months without an expensive and elaborate shading system.

This system, however, uses a metal panel to absorb the sun's energy on the surface and does not allow the sun to penetrate beyond the panel's surface.

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