Selective light transmission as a leading innovation for solar swimming pool covers

Abstract

An innovative, extrudable material with the ability to filter the sun's energy has been developed for the mass manufacture of high performance swimming pool covers. Solar radiation in the visible spectrum (<750 nm) is absorbed by the material so that minimal visible light enters the pool water which inhibits photosynthesis to prevent algae growth. Furthermore, the material has high transmission properties in the near infrared that can be efficiently absorbed by the water allowing for a higher temperature increase compared to a standard non-selective opaque cover. We have developed a model to enable the cover efficiency to convert solar energy to heat a swimming pool, calculated based on the wavelength dependent absorption and transmission properties of the cover. We have validated this model using dedicated full-scale test-facility. Our results demonstrate that a selective transmission cover can increase the absolute heating efficiencies by approximately 12% compared to the fully opaque equivalent.