Designing the Ultimate Solar Hot Air Collector!

This video summarizes and rates several solar hot air collector absorber designs including the black box, backpass, vented soffit, double layer screen and aluminum downspout. It explains the importance of considering airflow, along with temperature rise, when evaluating a collector's performance. It also details the side by side testing methodology to determine which designs work best and gives the characteristics of a high performance, hot air collector.

This video also encourages others (individual hobbyists and school clubs / science classes) to try their own ideas and see if they can design the ultimate solar hot air collector!

I'm hope that in addition to being helpful information that inspires folks to brainstorm effective, hot air collector designs, this video will also be an educational, introductory launching point for those just learning about solar.