What are the main advantages of Evacuated Tube Collectors in comparison to flat plate collectors?
There are numerous benefits that evacuated tubes offer over the traditional “flat plate” collector designs. Although evacuated tubes are relatively new to the Australian market, they were invented here almost 30 years ago and they are a well proven, superior technology, widely used around the world: INCREASED EFFICIENCY Flat plate collectors only provide peak energy output at midday, when the sun is perpendicular to the collector’s surface. At other times of the day, the heat collection of a flat plate is either increasing or decreasing. Due to the round shape of the evacuated tube, the sun is perpendicular to the surface of the glass for most of the day, resulting in higher heat collection and heat output all the way from morning through to late afternoon. The ability of the tubes to absorb heat from a wide range of angles means that the Endless Solar collector can be mounted on even east or west facing roofs with only a small decrease in performance. This versatility allows the home
