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Colorado Springs
707 E Fillmore 80907
719 633 0208
Toll Free 1 800 632 0208
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Pueblo
101 Spring Street 81003
719 542 5631
Toll Free 1 800 540 5631
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In an evacuated tube heat pipe solar collector the heat pipe absorber is located in a double wall glass tube. A vacuum is formed in the space between the two walls of the glass tube. A vacuum is an extremely efficient insulator; probable best know for it use in Thermos bottles. The heat pipe is like a little steam engine converting solar radiation to hot water. The heat pipe is a hollow tube with a liquid in a vacuum inside the tube. The vacuum in the tube allows the liquid to change to steam vapor at a much lower temperature than at atmospheric pressure. The steam rises in the individual heat pipes and heats the fluid in the manifold through a heat exchanger. As the steam cools it condenses to liquid then flows back to the base of the heat pipe to repeat the heat cycle again. Several of these single tubes connect to the manifold to make up the solar collector.
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Advantages of LUMOS E-Tube Collectors
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An advantage of the LUMOS heat pipe evacuated tube system over direct flow solar collectors is the"dry" connections between the heat pipe and the heat exchange manifold. This makes installation easier and means that individual tubes can be removed or exchanged without draining or shutting down the system.
Evacuated tubes work efficiently at high absorber temperatures with low heat loss from the collectors, allowing them to reach higher temperatures than most flat-plate collectors for more efficient water and space heating.
The constant profile of the round tube means the collector is always perpendicular to the sun's rays making the energy absorbed approximately constant over the course of the day. Unlike flat-panels that require sun tracking devices or lose efficiency as the sun angle changes.
The solar absorptive coating of the inner glass allows for more efficient solar radiation transformation even in cloudy or low light conditions. The coating allows for a high absorption rate while minimizing re-radiation heat loss.
The double wall glass is charged to repel dirt and pollutants.
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