How The Apricus Evacuated Tube Collector Works
Evacuated tubes work in all seasons as they can be positioned more favorably towards the sun. This means when you want higher temperatures or performance in cooler weather, evacuated tubes have a huge advantage over other flat plate collectors, but how does it work?
Watch these videos below for a full explanation of how the Apricus Evacuated Tube Collector Works
Three Steps To Apricus Evacuated Tube Collector
Here are the simple steps as to how the evacuated tube collector works from sunlight to hot water
The Apricus Evacuated Tube Collector
These images show the simplicity and high efficiency of the Apricus collectors. To understand in more detail, watch the ‘Solar Hot Water’ explained video
Capturing Sunlight
The sunlight (including UV) strikes the dark absorber coating inside the evacuated tube, the vacuum seal between the two layers of glass act like an insulator and prevent the heat energy that has been captured from escaping back into the atmosphere.
Heat Transfer
The heat pipe, located inside the evacuated tube carries a small amount of purified water, and is also evacuated, which means the liquid boils at a very low temperature (~30°C) turns to vapour and rises to the top of the heat pipe to the “bulb” which plugs in to the Apricus manifold.
Pumping Water
The Apricus pump station moves water from the storage tank through the copper heat exchange located within the manifold. At this point, there is no water running through the tubes, the heat pipe bulb is simply transferring the heat retained inside the tube into the cooler water running through the manifold.
As this process happens, the vapour inside the heat pipe condenses and turns back into liquid returning to the bottom of the heat pipe… and the process begins again!