CAN/CSA-F378-87 (R2004)

Scope

1.1
This Standard specifies a set of technical requirements and test methods for solar collectors and covers component materials, materials performance, operating performance, and marking requirements.

1.2
This Standard applies to solar collectors used for converting sola r radiation into thermal energy. It covers only collectors with an aperture area of not less than 0.5 m². Typical applications for the collectors covered by this Standard in clude their use in systems for space heating or cooling and the heating of water.

1.3
This Standard covers collectors capable of being tested as independ ent units with forced circulation of the heat transfer fluid. It also applies to installation dependent collectors such as those designed for site assembly, surface mounting or rack mounting. Scaled down versions of large collectors may be tested provided that appropriate test parameters are retested and that the test specimen is constructed to ensure that the test results shall as far as possible be applicable to the installed unit.

1.4
This Standard is intended to apply to the following types of solar collectors: (a) glazed and unglazed flat plate collectors; (b) vacuum envelope collectors; (c) concentrating collectors; and (d) boiling/condensing collectors.

1.5
This Standard does not apply to any collectors designed for fluid temperatures above 300°C, or to boiling collectors which require a separate condensing heat exchanger.

1.6
This Standard does not cover the installation or mounting of sol ar collectors; neither does it cover the tracking mechanism of sun following collector systems nor any other part of a solar collecting system.

1.7
Compliance of a collector with this Standard may not completely define its suitability for an intended application. Specifically, this Standard

(a) does not define minimum values for the solar collector thermal efficiency;
(b) does not define thermal performance testing for collectors to be used in passive systems with convective circulation of the heat transfer medium. Testing of the collector for thermal performance by appropriate procedures not included in this Standard should be considered by the user for such applications;
(c) defines only the thermal performance testing procedures applying to a single isolated collector. This Standard does not address the issue of collector array performance.