Apricus Solar Hot Water

Apricus offers a full line of solar hot water and hydronic heating products.

Founded in 2003, Apricus has since grown into a global company with offices in the USA, Australia, France and sales in more than 30 countries.

As a global company, Apricus strives to play a leading role in the solar thermal industry. With a focus on continual improvement of products, management and service, Apricus completes R&D and manufacturing in the company-owned facility that is certified to ISO9001: 2008 management and production standards. All of our products are produced with a strong emphasis on simplistic design and ease of installation while aiming to minimize the environmental impact of all products and operations.  With a number of patents pending designs, Apricus invests strongly in the continual R&D of new products.

At Apricus we are strongly committed to our unique mission of providing simple and effective solutions for families and businesses concerned about climate change and rising energy costs. Our team has an excellent reputation in the industry and we pride ourselves in offering the best customer service available. Very passionate about what we do, we work hard to push the industry in a positive direction and ensure that your experience with Apricus is an enjoyable one.

Solar Collector Parts

1. Collector manifold
2. Glass wool insulation
3. Copper header pipe (liquid flow)
4. Stainless steel mounting frame
5. Evacuated tube (solar absorber)
6. Heat transfer fin and heat pipe

Collector Operation

Step 1: Sunlight is absorbed inside the evacuated tube causing it to heat up.

Step 2: The heat pipe inside the tube carries this thermal energy up to the manifold box.

Step 3: Fluid circulates from the storage tank up through to the header pipe and extracts the energy from the hot heat pipe tips.

Step 4: The newly heated fluid circulates back to the storage tank where it can be used and the cycle begins again.

When comparing peak efficiency levels it may seem that there is little difference between flat plate and evacuated tubes, in fact flat plate may actually be higher, but this is during minimal heat loss conditions. When averaged over a year evacuated tube collector have a clear advantage. The key points are:

 

1. Due to the cylindrical shape of the evacuated tube, the solar tubes are able to passively track the sun throughout the day. Flat plate collector only provide peak energy output at midday when the sun is perpendicular to the collector's surface.  

2. Air is evacuated from the solar tube to form a vacuum. This greatly reduces conductive and convective heat loss from the interior of the tube. As a result wind and cold temperatures have less effect on the efficiency of the evacuated tube collector.

  

3. Apricus solar collectors can often be used in subzero temperatures without the system sustaining damage. Flat plate systems often require expensive and complicated "antifreeze" systems to be installed.  



4. Evacuated tubes are strong, long lasting, and should one be broken, inexpensive and easy to replace. If a flat plate collector panel is damaged the whole panel must be replaced.  



5. Due to the high efficiency absorption of solar radiation even during overcast conditions, combined with excellent insulative properties of the solar tube, solar tube collectors can heat water all year round (backup from gas and electricity is still required).

  

6. Due to the various advantages of evacuated tube collector over flat plate collectors, a smaller collector can be used to provide the same heating performance. For example, a standard household of 4-5 people would usually require a 250-300L water storage tank. Depending on your location, only 30 evacuated tubes would be required to provide all summer hot water needs and a large percentage in other seasons.  



7. Flat plate solar collectors can produce similar heat output to evacuated tube collectors, but generally only during hot, sunny conditions. When averaged over an entire year, evacuated tube collector heat output per net m2of absorber area, is between 25% to 40% greater that a flat plate collector.