Sunoptimo

Sunoptimo's product range is based on the original Drainback principle, which overcomes the main difficulty facing conventional "pressurized" systems: overheating. Sunoptimo's technologies are best suited to the large installation segment, where we have the fewest competitors. This market requires the kind of expertise that Sunoptimo has acquired and which we offer to a range of clients (final consumers, installers, consulting firms), in order to create high-performance and reliable systems. Sunoptimo's products for individuals are derived from the collective range. Sunoptimo also offers remote monitoring services and we guarantee the effectiveness of our installations.Sunoptimo is a designer/manufacturer of solar thermal products based on the Drainback (self-draining) principle. This technology prevents overheating in summer and ensures greater longevity. Since overheating is no longer a problem, this principle has led to a revolutionary approach to solar installation sizing.Optimum Sizing uses economic calculations to determine the optimal surface area of Sunoptimo solar thermal collectors. Sunoptimo has developed different tools to accurately calculate the ideal size. Thanks to Optimum Sizing, it's possible to achieve energy savings of 60% to 80% by using solar energy to heat water for all sorts of collective, industrial, or combined applications. Sunoptimo's main focus is the collective solar thermal market, but we also cover the combined systems market (domestic hot water as well as space and/or pool heating), and by extension, the individual market. Sunoptimo's technologies are best suited to the large installation segment, where we have the fewest competitors. This market also requires the kind of expertise that Sunoptimo has acquired. Sunoptimo's products for individuals are derived from the collective range.. Skills, services and / or productsUsing a solar thermal system to produce green heat is a given. As a manufacturer of solar thermal systems, Sunoptimo strives to increase heat consumers’ awareness of the advantages of solar thermal heat production. In fact, Sunoptimo has developed a very powerful tool that uses information provided by the heat consumer to determine the ideal solar collector surface area for optimal cost-effectiveness. Once the heat consumer is motivated, Sunoptimo will assist the consulting firm and/or installer during the installation process, and will also conduct remote monitoring in order to guarantee that the system works properly.Despite what most people think, even in Belgium a solar thermal system can be quite cost-effective. In fact, the conversion of solar energy into heat is much more efficient than conversion into electricity, for example. Sunoptimo's product range is based on the original Drainback principle, which overcomes the main difficulty facing conventional "pressurized" systems: overheating. Sunoptimo's technologies are best suited to the large installation segment, where we have the fewest competitors. This market also requires the kind of expertise that Sunoptimo has acquired to create high-performance and reliable systems for a range of clients (final consumers, installers, consulting firms).Optimum SizingOptimum Sizing is a technique to determine the "economically optimal" size by taking all the parameters of a thermal solar system into account: cost, yield, production according to amount of sunlight, consumption habits, etc.As a general rule, the size of the solar installation is directly limited by the risk of overheating in summer (in a conventional "pressurized system").  The more collectors there are, the more energy will be produced to cover the consumer's hot water needs (solar fraction). Here is a graph showing the percentage of energy needs that can be met by different solar systems throughout the year (in terms of coverage rate, or solar fraction).In the absence of solar collectors, energy needs will be entirely covered by conventional sources (gas, heating oil, electricity, etc.). A conventional/pressurized system is normally sized to supply 85% of the theoretical need calculated at the best time of the year.A pressurized installation designed to achieve 100% of the theoretical need at the best time of the year could suffer severe degradation over time.Since this isn't a problem in Drainback systems, they can be sized larger in order to achieve a much greater solar fraction, and thus greater overall savings.  Remote monitoring of installationsThe importance of remote monitoring in a solar installation**1-Avoiding the loss of energy production if the system is offSince solar installations require a backup system that can produce 100% of hot water needs, it's possible that the system manager may not notice that the installation is no longer working for many months. Installing an apparatus to remotely monitor the proper functioning of the solar system can prevent the loss of solar energy production, which can sometimes represent thousands of kWh, and therefore thousands of euros lost.2-Optimization of energy productionThe optimal solar system configuration can only be based on analysis of operational data obtained under actual operating conditions. Optimization of these parameters after commissioning can often considerably increase the energy savings generated by the solar system. This can provide significant additional savings.Sunoptimo provides solar system monitoring services for both our own products and our competitors’ existing installations. These services are included in an Opticare contract.References**There are a number of Sunoptimo installations in Wallonia and Brussels: apartment buildings, nursing homes, sports facilities, institutions for the disabled, etc. A number of the installations can be seen on our website, which lists several of our references. 

• Bonilait Industrial Site (Poitier): 1,500 m2 of Drainback flat-plate collectors combined with a Biomass heating system to heat a milk processing plant 

• Hospital (Huy): 300 m2 of flat-plate collectors for the hospital's hot water production

• MRS Dejaifves (Fosses la Ville): 210 m2 of flat-plate collectors for the nursing home's hot water production

• MRS Le Clairval (Pondrôme): 160 m2 of flat-plate collectors for the nursing home's hot water production

• MRS les Lilas (Bonlez): 160 m2 of flat-plate collectors for the nursing home's hot water production 

• MRS Pont D'amour (Dinant): 165 m2 of flat-plate collectors for the nursing home's hot water production 

• MRS de Remouchamps: 130 m2 of flat-plate collectors for the nursing home's hot water production