French startup offers solar aerothermal system for space heating

Solar Brother, a French startup, has developed a solar aerothermal system for space heating. The system incorporates a PV panel, an aerothermal heat pump module, and cassette filtration, enabling homeowners to save on heating.

Image: Solar Brothers

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From pv magazine France

Solar Brother has announced the launch of SunAéro, a solar heating system that heats and renews the air in rooms measuring 20 m² to 60 m².

The system combines PV and thermal energy to heat, renew or dehumidify the air in the rooms of a home. It reportedly allows homeowners to lower their traditional heating thermostat by 3 C to 5 C.

“SunAéro is a complete kit that incorporates a large number of electronic components,” Gilles Gallo, president of Solar Brother, told pv magazine France.

It includes a controller, a 32 W solar panel from US-based Maxeon, a ventilation grill, a connecting duct, a Wi-Fi connection, a 103 cm x 76 cm x 7 cm aerothermal heat pump panel, cassette filtration, and a fixing system, available in white, black, or anthracite.

The filtration cassette captures and filters outside air and the aerothermal unit absorbs heat and warms the circulating air. The latter is “the brain of the system,” as it drives the flow of hot air toward the interior of the space that must be heated.

The 600 W SunAéro aerothermal heat pump panel features tempered glass, lacquered aluminum frame and is light and ultrathin. The insulation used has a thermal resistance of about 0.5 m²/kW.

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The aerothermal panel with the filtration cassette weighs 20 kg and, according to the manufacturer, can be easily handled by a single person during installation. For larger spaces, installers can combine two or three solar panels with a single controller.

The SunAéro unit is completely autonomous thanks to the photovoltaic panel. Depending on the settings, the fan of the aerothermal system blows between 50 and 200 m3 per hour of hot air into the house. The injected air is between 20 C and 40 C higher than the outside air temperature at an airflow rate of 3 m/s, which provides 3 C to 5 C of heat to the room.

The system turns off automatically when the sun sets. For maintenance, the cassette filter can be cleaned once a year with a little water.

SunAéro is a plug-and-play system that can be installed vertically or horizontally on the exterior of a home facing the sun, using modular panels that are mechanically fixed to the wall with quick-release fasteners. It takes between one and three hours to complete a turnkey installation, depending on whether it is deployed on wood or concrete.

Solar Brother is based in Caroles, southeastern France.

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