The LeverEdge

Long ago, the engineers at Solar Hydronics Corp. devised a way to combat the problem of outdated mounting hardware.

The first set of hardware to be modernized was the header mount that secures the top of the solar collector to your roof.

Traditional mounts fit snugly to the collector, allowing no flexibility for the collector to move as the material expands and contracts throughout the day. Collectors restricted by these mounts would bind at each anchor point causing additional and unnecessary stresses to the collector and roof penetrations, leading to increases in product failures.

So what did SHC’s engineers develop? The Universal Mounting system.

The roof mounts are specially engineered to be placed anywhere along the width of the header by your certified Nuvis dealer. This enables the mounts to be anchored directly into roof rafters, adding stability to the panel array.

Secondly, the base of each mount cradles the header, lifting it slightly off the roof. The top secures snugly into the mount base, allowing the panel to be installed easily. This two-piece, “free floating” design permits your panels to expand and contract without causing stress to the panel, the anchor points, or your roof.

Nuvis uses today’s most advanced technology to create a single-piece, over-molded header. The header is the main conduit that carries your pool’s water to and from the absorber surface. Traditionally, headers are welded to the absorber. Welds tend to naturally weaken over time with the normal stress of expansion and contraction of day-to-day use.

During the manufacturing of Nuvis panels, raw material is forced into a mold. This material is under intense pressure and high heat as it flows into the mold, directly over the absorber. The result is a solid, one-piece panel with virtually no manufacturing variances. There is more to Nuvis molded header than durability. It is your pool water’s expressway, and traffic jams are not allowed!

Because the header is molded directly around the absorber tubes, there are no barriers, so water freely exits the header into each individual tube. Simple welding, or other manufacturing methods, can block the flow of water significantly at this point, which in turn reduces the amount of heat delivered to your pool. Flow restrictions also add back pressure to the pool’s entire filtration system and can reduce its overall life expectancy. Simply stated – the more water that can flow through your heating system, the more heat that will be transferred to your pool.

When engineering the absorber, Solar Hydronics Corp. created a tube-on-fin design for its combination of performance and durability. Loose-tube absorber designs produce the least effective heating surfaces, and flat plate and welded tube designs don’t allow for expansion and contraction, leading to premature failure.

Simply put, tube-on-fin absorber design takes the best of previous designs and combines them, while omitting all their flaws.

The fin – or webbing between each absorber tube – is set low, which allows the tube to capture more energy from the sun. The fin is also curved downward between each tube, raising the tubes slightly off the roof, while allowing the roof to “breathe”. The web also affords a stress-free flexibility to the tubes. This ensures there is no abrasion between the water-carrying vessel and your roof.

The illustration to the left details Nuvis flexible expansion joints, located every 6 inches across the absorber surface.

These flexible zip joints allow for vertical expansion and contraction; critical for applications where a tree or other shadow-causing element, like chimneys or roof lines, may partially shade the collectors as the sun’s angle changes. Flexible joints eliminate stresses caused by natural temperature variances between panel sections by allowing the panels to move along the joint freely.

Additionally, unlike traditional bonding methods – actual welding of the plastic that can pinch or puncture the absorber surface – there are no manufacturing variances with Nuvis flexible joints.

Nuvis offers the only truss-mounted strap anchor system available.

We designed our strap mounts to be strong, to protect each anchor point from the elements, and to increase the overall wind load strength.

First, we utilize stainless steel straps with an outer coating of polypropylene. The straps are placed over the panel array and fastened into our unique strap mount hardware.

Next, and most importantly, the two-piece design makes Nuvis strap mounts highly durable and virtually weatherproof. The bottom half of the anchor is the piece that is secured to your roof. The strapping is laid across the array and into the mount. Then, the top half of the anchor screws onto the bottom, cinching the strap in place, and protecting the mounting hardware from the elements – just like a roof.

But what does “truss-mounted” mean? Nuvis panels were specifically designed for compliance with home construction standards. They are built 48″ wide, so that the straps can be anchored in the roof truss, rather than the roof decking or tiles, providing the most secure bond available.