A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

The present invention relates to a solar collector (1) comprising a containment structure (6) with at least one face exposed to solar radiation, said containment structure (6) comprising a central housing recess (7) and an outer edge (8) that surrounds said central housing recess (7), inside said central recess (7) a primary conduit being arranged for the circulation of a primary heat transfer fluid, exposed to solar radiation, a secondary conduit for the circulation of a secondary fluid, and a heat exchange area between said primary and secondary conduit for the heat exchange between the primary heat transfer fluid and the secondary fluid, said solar collector (1) being characterized in that in at least one portion of said outer edge (8) of the containment structure (6) at least one dissipation conduit (9) is obtained in fluid communication with said primary conduit to dissipate the excess heat to outside said solar collector (1).

A building envelope, in particular a wall, a floor, or a roof of a building with at least two shells spaced some distance apart from one another, which encloses an intermediate space, said space being essentially empty with the exception of weight-bearing and/or construction-engineering elements or being filled at least in sections with porous, open-celled material and sealed from the interior and exterior of the building, wherein controllable sealing means are provided for sealing the intermediate space from the interior and exterior and optionally separated building envelope sections from one other.

A device is disclosed for the storage and transfer of solar thermal energy which includes a casing having a irradiation opening for the entry of incident solar radiation in a irradiation region of the casing. a bed of fluidizable solid particles received within the casing, and a plurality of reflecting and radiating surfaces arranged within the irradiation region and configured to convey the solar radiation entering through the irradiation opening, after multiple reflections, on the bed of particles.

Disclosed is a system comprising an envelope of a structure, heat pipes and fluid conduits, the envelope of the structure including at least two shells spaced apart from one another which enclose an intermediate space being sealed against an interior and exterior of the structure. First and second pipes, embedded in the exterior-facing and interior-facing shell of the structure, respectively, penetrate the envelope of the structure and together form the heat pipe for the circulation of a fluid to increase, hold or decrease heat transition through the envelope of the structure or affect heat transport into or out of the envelope of the structure.

The present invention relates to a solar surface receptor module that operates at a high temperature and comprises a channel (101) extending therethrough and along which a heat transfer occurs between a fluid (liquid or gas) moving in said channel (101) and at least one wall (104) of the receptor exposed to concentrated solar radiation, characterized in that the inner surface (105) of at least said wall includes turbulence-generating actuators (110) at the fluid inlet (102). The present invention also relates to a solar receptor therefor.

A hybrid power and heat generating device (100) comprising: a photovoltaic solar power collector (102) configured to collect solar power from solar radiation received on an active side (103) of the photovoltaic solar power collector; and a heat exchanging unit (104) configured to cool the photovoltaic solar power collector, which heat exchanging unit includes a cooling plate (106;404;504704) arranged to transfer heat from the photovoltaic solar power collector (102) to a cooling medium. The heat exchanging unit (104) is adapted to transport the cooling medium away from the cooling plate (106;404;504;704) for heat extraction from the cooling medium. The cooling plate (106;404;504;704) is arranged with a gap (110) from a rear side (111) of the photovoltaic solar power collector (102) and the cooling medium is arranged to cool the cooling plate (106;404;504;704) to a temperature which allows water vapor of the ambient air in the gap (110) to condensate into water on the cooling plate (106;404;504;704) in the gap (110). The hybrid power and heat generating device (100) being operable in at least two operation modes; a normal operation mode in which the gap (110) is at least partly filled with condensed water, which condensed water transfers heat from the photovoltaic solar power collector (102) to the cooling plate (106;404;504;704); and a security operation mode in which the gap (110) is filled with air to thereby reduce the heat transfer from the photovoltaic solar collector (102) to the cooling plate (106;404;504;704).

A solar receiver, designed to use a heat transfer medium, includes a plurality of panels. Each panel is arranged and configured to enable the heat transfer medium to flow in at least one flow direction, one flow direction defining a pass, to obtain unique mass flux in each pass to optimize the heat flux capability of the pass while minimizing pressure drop across the selected passes of the heat transfer surface. A method thereof is also provided.

A solar collector is provided. The collector comprises a monolithic flow control component to direct a flow of the heat transfer fluid between an inlet and outlet; and a solar absorber supported by the monolithic flow control component. The monolithic flow control component is able to support the solar absorber without any additional structural components to lend mechanical strength to the monolithic flow control component.