Selfpowered Solar Water Heater

Proposed is a full scale, production-ready prototype of a solar-powered system for producing hot water (SHW) to support Army Forward Operating Bases. The approach is innovative in that the system collects and stores energy in the form of high quality heat rather than hot water. It provides on-demand hot water in a manner akin to commercial “tank-less” hot water heaters. The system is comprised of 12 identical, independently operating units, each of which can collect 250,000 BTU/day, which in the aggregate meets the requirements for a 150 soldier Forward Operating Base. Six of these units can be packed into a single TRICON. The system design assures that there is no single point of failure. One potential advantage of this approach is that the basic system can also become a standard platform, with most parts interchangeable, for fulfilling many base energy requirements, such as electrical power generation and steam for thermal desalination systems and for field hospitals. TSS has assembled an excellent team for this project, including Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, The Pilot Group and Yankee Scientific in order to produce a final engineering design that is ready for manufacturing, with particular attention paid to compliance with MANPRINT guidelines.