This new ISO standard, ISO 9806:2017, specifies test methods for assessing the durability, reliability, safety and thermal performance of fluid heating solar collectors. The test methods are applicable for laboratory testing and for in situ testing.

The document describing this standard contains performance test methods for conducting test outdoors under natural solar irradiance and natural and simulated wind and for conducting tests indoors under simulated solar irradiance and wind.

Collectors tested according to this ISO standard represent a wide range of applications, e.g. glazed flat plate collectors and evacuated tube collectors for domestic water and space heating, collectors for heating swimming pools or for other low temperature systems or tracking concentrating collectors for thermal power generation and process heat applications.

The ISO 9806:2017 is applicable to collectors using liquids, as well as air as heat transfer fluid. Similarly, collectors using external power sources for normal operation and/or safety purposes (overheating protection, environmental hazards, etc.), as well as hybrid devices generating thermal power and electrical power are also considered.