Enerconcept Technologies introduced the Lubi, the world's most efficient solar air heater that features significant energy savings and quick paybacks for commercial, institutional and industrial facilities. The Lubi is a wall-mounted solar collector that simulates an aesthetic architectural glass-like facade, but provides up to 80.7-percent peak heating efficiencies, which is the highest efficiency ever recorded for any solar air technology, according to Canadian Standards Association (CSA-International) certification tests.
The Lubi's capabilities of producing temperature increases of up to 45°C above ambient outdoor temperatures. This allows it to fulfill applications ranging from pre-heating outdoor air to supplemental heating of facilities, depending upon application, geography and weather conditions. Maximum outputs are 800-watts/m2.
The Lubi is18-percent more efficient than its nearest solar air heating competitor thanks to its patent-pending, translucent perforated panel technology. Each 900 x 320-mm polycarbonate panel has 906 perforations. Unlike wall-mounted metal
Solar collectors that suffer significant thermal losses in on their exterior panel surfaces, the Lubi's panels greatly reduce thermal loss because of their transparency and the cooling effect of outdoor ambient air being drawn through the perforations by the building's HVAC air handling system.
When mounted on brick or concrete walls, the Lubi's translucency allows sunlight to penetrate the panels and become trapped or absorbed into the building wall that continues to radiate as a thermal mass long after sundown.
Also, the Lubi is 18 and 58-percent more efficient than other solar collectors when mounted to a black or white wall, respectively. Other wall-mounted solar air collectors heat air via conduction from their metal facade surfaces, which require darker colors that may not always suit architectural aesthetics.
In southern climates where dehumidification is used to precondition high latent heat loads of outdoor air, the Lubi can also be used for desiccant regeneration when positioned upstream from costly-to-operate gas-fired heaters used for enthalpy wheel drying.
The Lubi's payback can range from zero to several years depending on geographical location, climate conditions, heating application, government tax advantages, utility incentives and other factors. In masonry new construction, the Lubi can substitute for expensive brick wall construction and offer as much as a zero payback.
