- Joined
- Dec 25, 2011
- Messages
- 5,456
- Reaction score
- 69
Yep, all fair points. It was an experiment albeit with little undestanding of the subject! Seriously though I read that the evacuated tubes are more efficient in cloudy climes but the flat plate type better for really hot sunny places. But I didn't want to start making vacuum stuff. The reason for the cans went on the lines of; black all round, absorbs heat from the front and by virtue of the shiny ali backing sheet the bottom. Then the angled sides direct it inwards a bit more. NOT so sure however on the stacked cans as you say, does that "all round" heat get transferred to the copper pipe? But.........is that heat in the gap between can and pipe "held" there and just added to? They are pretty much sealed - at the joints by paint (and expansion?) then at the ends with mastic. Without the thermal syponing going the outlet was at 83degC - NO idea how that compares to a flat plate. So............the answer has to be to make a flat plate job and compare.............msl:
:Applaud
ive been thinking about this,
I think that simply painting the pipes black and having a reflector behind them would be even more efficient,
Im not seeing how the cans are actually benifitting that much to the system tbh,
they would need to be totally sealed around the pipe to have a trap of hot air for any big benefit to be gained from them,
is there something Im not thinking of?
even have the cans on the reverse of the pipes for a parabolica effect would be a lot better, you could even polish them
I did consider "halving" the can lengthways and using as a parabola. I even toyed with the old "trough" antennae idea i.e. concentrating heat onto a pipe............still might look at that. I've made a couple of large trough antennaes for neighbours and both are receiving Freeview on them (one from ali plate and the other from mesh).
Last edited by a moderator: