about us

OUR COMPANY

Q Solar Pty Ltd was established in 2001. Its Australian Company Number is 096 856 307. The founder and the current managing director of the company is Mr Dorin Preda.

Our headquarters are in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland. Our state is also known as the 'Sunshine State' of Australia. True to its name, our location has more than 300 sunny days every year and this creates ideal weather conditions for our research activity.

OPINIONS ON OUR TECHNOLOGY AND PRODUCTS

-- Assessment made by the Commonwealth Science for Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO)

  • The new solar energy technology developed by Q Solar Pty Ltd is very versatile and can supply heated air to stationary applications that have nearby a sunny area for installation of the solar collectors.
  • The new solar air heaters can supply the entire requirement of heat for low temperature applications that can stop their activity when sunlight is not available, like agricultural driers, solar tower power plants, and some space heaters.
  • They can also act as air pre-heaters, so that they can supply part of the heat needed for industrial processes running at temperatures greater than about 100 degrees C or/and processes that run when solar radiation is not sufficient. The rest of the heat would be provided from the usual fossil energy source.
  • Being very light, the new solar air heaters can be installed at any sunny location, on roofs, walls or on the ground. As they have no moving parts, they are very reliable, cost little to operate, and have good efficiency.
  • The price of heat that they produce can be substantially lower than the price of heat produced with fossil fuels.
  • Besides decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions, the new low temperature solar air heaters can be warranted for periods of time about double their payback time, therefore clients are guaranteed to make a substantial return on their investment.
  • For the present distribution of energy consumers in Australia, the new technology could, in principle, replace about 10% of the fossil fuels currently used in fixed applications, and therefore could reduce Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by about 10%.

-- Mr John Hando, Director, Grow Pty. Ltd.:

"One year ago Q Solar Pty Ltd installed a solar collector for our drier of vegetable material to supplement a gas burner. Our experience has been:

  • Q Solar delivered the solar collector within the contractual timeframe and technical specifications (rise in air temperature, power of the solar air heater).
  • The predictions made in winter about the summertime performance were confirmed.
  • The solar collector supplied by Q Solar increases the temperature of the inlet air to our dryer by about 200C during winter and by about 350C during summer.
  • Using the solar collector has given us savings of about 25% in our gas usage.
  • The solar collector has been reliable and has not produced any downtime for our drier.
  • The after sale support has been good."

-- Mr Trevor Berrill, Brisbane Renewable Energy Centre:

"Innovative technology, good efficiency. The measurement method was adequate."


OUR ACTIVITY

The mission of Q Solar is to provide radically new products that make solar energy an economical alternative to conventional energy sources. We believe that the economical performance of a product defines its future.

Nature gives us an wonderful example of doing the most with very limited means, while leaving no pollution behind. Therefore, we have committed to developing only environmentally friendly products, and this way justify the high ethical standards adopted by our company.

Since industrial and commercial activities require the most energy, we focus on developing products that are useful to these sectors; this way, we can make a significant contribution to environmental protection.

The first product we have developed was a new type of solar water heater that has high thermal performance and long service life, and at the same time is really environmentally friendly because it may not use any metal parts.

Our second important achievement was the design of an economical solar water heater of large size.

After 2001, we began manufacturing solar air heaters based on the research carried out by Mr Dorin Preda. We soon became the leaders in this technology, as our solar air heaters are the most efficient and at the same time the most economical ever. By the time, we extended the area of use of our solar air heaters from industry to agriculture and we also studied its possible aplication to power generation.

We have put a lot of work in improving the solar collector for the solar tower power plant and have developed a new design with multiple advantages, should such a project ever be attempted.

Given the multiple areas of use for our solar air heaters and the vast international market, we are open to establishing contracts for transfering our technology to overseas organisations and this way disseminate our know-how on this profitable new technology.

THE PEOPLE

Mr Dorin Preda is an engineer with wide experience in environmental protection and renewable energy technology. He originates in Eastern Europe, where he worked as a scientific researcher until 1990 when he migrated to the western world. The first public acknowledgement of his renewable energy designs was in 1975. In 1980 he received a prize at the National Contest on Renewable Energy Designs. He graduated in 1982 from the University of Bucharest and has subsequently undertaken postgraduate studies. Since 1998 he carried out solar energy research, published scientific papers and became the author of many patents of invention.

In August 2006, at the World Renewable Energy Congress held in Florence, Italy, Mr Preda has introduced to the international scientific and technical community the new developments in the solar air heaters that open a new era in renewable energy technology and can replace with solar energy about 10% of fossil fuels.