Insulated inflatable solar collector with strengthening matrix configuration

Claim 1

An inflatable solar collector through which a fluid medium can flow so as to be heated by solar radiation and which is constructed to prevent heat loss from the heated fluid medium flowing therethrough to the surrounding atmosphere, and which has a strong matrix construction and is easily manufactured, said collector comprising: an upper flexible plastic manifold-forming sheet and a lower flexible plastic manifold-forming sheet, said upper and lower manifold-forming sheets being correspondingly shaped and sealingly joined at their peripheries and also joined along parallel portions of their interiors so as to form a manifold therebetween defining multiple parallel fluid medium flow channels, means for supplying fluid medium to be heated to one side of the parallel fluid medium flow channels in said manifold and means for removing heated fluid medium from the other side of the parallel fluid medium flow channels in said manifold, first flexible plastic covering sheets respectively positioned on top of said upper flexible plastic manifold-forming sheet and beneath said lower flexible plastic manifold-forming sheet, said first covering sheets being connected to said upper and lower manifold-forming sheets to form inner inflatable insulating zones around said manifold, second flexible plastic covering sheets respectively positioned on top of said first flexible plastic covering sheet located on top of said upper flexible plastic manifold-forming sheet and beneath said first flexible plastic covering sheet located beneath said lower flexible plastic manifold-forming sheet, said second covering sheets being connected to said first covering sheets to form outer inflatable insulating zones around said manifold, separate means for supplying pressure fluid to inflate said inner and outer insulating zones, and wherein all of said flexible plastic sheets are joined at their contiguous peripheries; wherein said first flexible plastic covering sheets are respectively connected to said upper and lower flexible plastic manifold-forming sheets along interior lines which extend parallel to the connection lines joining said upper and lower flexible plastic manifold-forming sheets and halfway between planes extending vertically through said connection lines, and wherein said second flexible plastic covering sheets are respectively connected to said first flexible plastic covering sheets along interior lines which extend in planes which extend vertically through said connection lines so as to create a strengthening matrix configuration for said solar collector when inflated.