Skip to main content
solar collector

solar collector

1 4.6
A device that uses mirrors or panels to focus sunlight and make heat
  • noun
  • /ˈsoʊlər kəˈlɛktər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : colector solar
  • This advancement in solar power technology enabled William J. Bailey of the Carnegie Steel Company to invent a solar collector with copper coils and an insulated box, which is roughly the same design used for solar panels today.
  • install a solar collector
  • heat from solar collectors
  • large solar collectors

Examples

  • The trailers on the left are portable power units to back up the 100-acre farm of solar collectors.

    Blog text (15)
  • Nowadays, Cyprus is cited as the country with the highest solar collector area installed per inhabitant worldwide (Kalogirou et al., 2006).

    Academic text (2009)
  • In a new subdivision in California where solar collectors are rolled out on every roof, average electric bills are down 50 percent.

    Academic text (2007)
  • They have already ordered long "studies" of the environmental impact of putting up wind turbines and large solar collectors.

    Blog text (4)
  • Ericsson's proposal to cover rooftops with solar collectors has been put into practice.

  • It involved, among them, inspecting, cleaning, and replacing the panels on the solar collectors.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • The heat produced by these inexpensive solar collectors can then be used for heat, hot water, A/C, and refrigeration (using simple, no moving parts, absorption chillers).

    Blog text (25)
  • Figure 2 is an aerial photograph of the SEGS plants (III through VII) in Kramer Junction, Calif., which have more than 1 million square meters of solar collectors.

    Academic text (1994)
  • The solar collector on the rooftop efficiently heated the water for our morning showers.

  • Using solar collectors, the house generates enough power to run the entire household on sunny days.

Synonyms

solar furnace
vssolar collector
  • Specialized
1 6.7

A machine that uses a large curved mirror to focus sunlight and make very high heat

is a general device that concentrates solar rays to produce high temperatures
solar dish
vssolar collector
  • Specialized
5.8

A large curved mirror that focuses sunlight to one point to make high heat for energy or experiments

is a broader device that concentrates rays to create high temperatures

How Hot

solar furnace
  • Specialized
1 6.7
solar collector
  • Specialized
1 4.6

Surface Forms

Morphology

solar + collector

The meaning of 'solar collector' is directly deducible from 'solar' (relating to the sun) plus 'collector' (something that collects); together they straightforwardly denote a device that collects solar energy. This is a regular noun+noun/adj+noun composition found cross-linguistically and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Solar collector comes from the simple picture of solar, meaning the sun, and collector, meaning something that 'gathers'. It is like a bowl or mirror that 'collects' sunlight and focuses it to make heat, so the term means a device that gathers sunlight to reach high temperatures.