Solahart Industries recently extended its support to students from Adelaide University’s Mechanical Engineering School on the design and manufacture of a solar water heating test rig compliant with Australian Standards.

The testing rig was designed to be operated indoors in a controlled laboratory environment, using a solar simulator to provide radiation to the solar collector at an intensity equivalent to that of natural sunlight.

The temperature of the water is monitored using temperature sensors as it enters and exits the collector; the sensors also quantify the temperature gradient of water within the storage tank.

The finished testing rig will be used by future University students for teaching purposes.