Patent ID: 7083755

Claim:
A method of manufacturing a solar collector panel having two opposed ends defining a plurality of fluid ways extending there between and transverse headers at said opposed ends opening into open ends of the fluid conduits, the method comprising: providing a mould defining opposed mould faces that are spaced apart from each other wherein the spacing between the mould faces is not equal across the surface of the faces; inserting a mould material into the mould and moulding a body by a rotational moulding process so as to produce a layer of material of substantially uniform thickness across the surface of the mould faces; and allowing the mould and body to cool after the layer of material has been evenly moulded onto the mould surface and then removing the body from the mould whereby the unequal spacing between the mould surfaces facilitates the formation of said panel with areas that are not hollow and other areas that have hollow passages defined therein, the hollow passages defining the fluid ways and transverse headers and the non hollow areas defining the walls between the fluid ways; said method comprising the further step of moving the mould faces, and thereby the layers of moulded material on the faces, towards each other a certain distance after the moulding step has been carried out and before the body is given time to cool, to urge the moulded material on said non hollow areas of the body firmly into adhesive contract with each other to achieve fluid sealing of the walls between adjacent fluid ways and headers.