Patent ID: 7434577

Claim:
A solar air heater providing heating of air in a step-wise manner, comprising: a housing, said housing comprising a front panel of light-transmitting material, one or more air inlets and one or more air outlets for establishing a flow path for the air to be heated, two or more partitions, said partitions being essentially parallel to each other creating essentially isolated sections within said housing between said partitions, wherein each partition has a longitudinal axis and a normal axis, said normal axis being perpendicular to a face of said partition, wherein each partition comprises a plurality of parallel channels permitting adjacent essentially isolated sections to be in fluid communication and wherein said fluid communication is through said partitions, such that said fluid communication between said adjacent essentially isolated sections and through said partitions is along a route perpendicular to the normal axis of each of said partitions and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of each of said partitions; and b. one or more fans for moving air through said housing by way of said air inlets and said air outlets, and c. a temperature controller for turning said fans on and off at preset temperatures.