THERMO/SOLAR Ziar is one of the leading
European manufacturers of solar thermal
collectors. It was established in 1992 as a joint
venture of Slovak aluminium production plant
ZSNP based in Ziar nad Hronom and German
thermo|solar Energietechnik, that time the
largest manufacturer of solar collectors in
Germany. From the start the company
benefited from more than 20 years of previous
experience of its founders in the field of
development and manufacturing of solar
thermal collectors.
The joint venture has opened the door for the
products made in Ziar nad Hronom to western
Europe markets. This subsequently lead to
increase of quality and fast production growth.
The quality of solar collectors has been
positively influenced by mutual exchange of
„know-how“ of both partners: High efficient
selective absorbing layer – the contribution of
Slovak partner, and progressive deep-drawn
aluminium casing of a collector – the
contribution of German side.
Production of innovated type of evacuated flat
plate collector began in Ziar nad Hronom in
1997. Even in present time, this collector is
the only product of this type in the world. The
main advantage is its high efficiency at higher
working temperatures, while requiring
relatively low investment cost. Its design
makes it suitable especially for production of
industrial heat and space heating for
buildings.
THERMO/SOLAR Ziar and its original
founders have during their 45 years existence
produced and sold hundreds of thousands
solar thermal systems. These are used
especially for water heating, combination of
water, swimming pool and space heating,
industrial heat production, as well as other
special applications.
THERMO/SOLAR Ziar is permanently
investing not only into research and
development, but also to environment
protection during the manufacturing process.
This results in 100% regeneration of anodising
and pigmenting solution in the galvanic line for
the production of high selective conversion
layer and installation of the technology for
rinsing water purification.
Current production capacity is more than 600
thousand m2 of collectors per year.
THERMO/SOLAR Ziar is one of few
producers in the world with all main
manufacturing processes fully integrated in a
single production plant (production of selective
conversion layer and absorbers, sheet
pressing of collector casings, final assembling
of collectors). In addition to solar collectors,
the company produces various types of
supporting frames for fixation of collectors to
all kinds of roofs, and it also supplies
complete solar sets.
In 2012 the production range was extended to
heat pumps. The heat pumps are connected
to flat-plate vacuum collectors in an innovative
way – creating energy efficient systems. This
makes it possible to increase winter energy
output of solar collectors approx. 4 to 5-times.
At the same time, it increases the efficiency of
heat pump operation of approx. 50 %. This
technology can be used only in combination
with the flat-plate vacuum collectors TS-400.
In Germany, this technical solution is
considered as technically progressive, and the
end customers can receive a state subsidy for
purchasing these systems.
At present, THERMO/SOLAR is the largest
independent company producing solar thermal
collectors in Europe.
From 2015 the company supplies complete
photovoltaic systems. The assembling of
these systems is based on the experience
gained in the field of solar thermal collectors.
Further development stage is represented by
the heat pump that is integrated into the heat
storage tank. In this case, the low temperature
heat can be provided not only by flat-plate
vacuum collectors, but also from earth or air.
There are number of installations in different
parts of the world where THERMO/SOLAR
collectors work in extreme conditions or are
used for non-standard solar heat utilisation
processes. For example, an evacuated flat
plate collector system is installed in the
Environmental Research Centre on Zugspitze
in German Alps, 2650 meters above the sea
level. Another example is an installation in
Oman designed for sea water distillation. The
installation in a social residence house in the
town of Slatinany (Czech Republic) is also
very interesting from technical point of view,
since the solar heat provides 87% of the
space heating and the domestic hot water
supply. This system includes a seasonal heat
storage tank of 1 100 000 litres of water and a
heat pump as a backup.
The company pays high attention to quality,
research and development. It has unique
equipment for measuring the quality of
selective layer, the transmissivity of solar
glass and performance parameters of
collectors.
These activities were significantly intensified
in 2011, when the company became a
founding member of The Competence Centre
– a research and development base. Among
its members are The Slovak Academy of
sciences, two technical universities and
further seven industrial partners.
Company’s educational, consultancy and
publicity activities focused on solar heat
utilisation are also very important. The
company has been authorized by the Slovak
Ministry of Economy as an accredited training
centre for certification of installers of solar
thermal and photovoltaic system.
The aim of THERMO/SOLAR is to achieve for
its customers energy independence from
monopoly energy suppliers. The company is
therefore developing and testing various
technical solutions that would help to achieve
this aim in economically rational ways