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INNOVATIONS
INNOVATIONS
Armacell’spre-insulated twin-pipe
system for evacuated tube collectors
Nowwithenvironment-friendly,
lightweight PET core
Corrugated stainless steel pipes with a high-temperature insulation
materialmadeof syntheticEPDM rubberarenow state-of-the-art for
connecting the solar collectors to the heat storage tank simply and
reliably. However, rubber-insulated solar pipes can only be used up
toamaximum temperatureof 150 °C (up to175 °C in the short term).
Armacell hasenhanced itsArmafixpipe support: the system solution
for preventing thermal bridging isnowequippedwitha load-bearing
segmentmadeof environment-friendlyPET. Thematerial consists of
At higher temperatures the insulationmaterials become brittle and
lose their insulating properties. With the new DuoSolar 220 Arma-
cell has closed this gap and now provides a twin-pipe systemwhich
is also suitable for the high operating temperatures of evacuated
tube collectors.
recycled PET bottles which are industrially foamed. PET is light-
weight, has highmechanical strength in combination with residual
flexibility andamaximum service life.
DuoSolar 220 consistsof the following components:
•
flexible, parallel corrugated, stainlesssteel pipes,whicharequickand
easy to install evenwith small bending radii and in retrofitapplications
•
high-techpolyester insulationwitha temperature resistanceof 220 °C
•
tough foil covering, which protects the system against mechanical
damageandUV radiation
•
integrated sensor cable with halogen-free, high-temperature-resis-
tant silicon coating
All components meet the highest quality standards and are made in
Germany.
SolarproductsmadebyArmacell increase theservice lifeandefficiencyof solar
thermal systems. They bring solar energy into the building and the high-
temperature insulationmaterialsprotectthe installationsagainstenergy losses.
Upcycling:High-techproductmadeout of PETbottles
The new PET core is made 100 % out of the recyclate of PET bottles,
100%ofproductionscrap flowsback into themanufacturingofnewPET
blocks and the PET elements can be completely recycled at the end of
their service life. This is perfectly in line with the the cradle-to-cradle
principle. This concept is aimedat avoidingwasteby recyclingmaterials
in a closed loop and, therefore, continuously re-using them. Whereas
with classic recycling the quality of the product is usually reduced – in
thepaper industry, forexample–Armacell uses the recyclate for ahigh-
tech product. PET has an excellent environmental performance: the
material requiresover 60% less energy for itsproduction thanPURand
releases over 80% less CO
2
. PETmade of recyclate even goes one bet-
ter: the product consumes 40% less energy and causes 30% less CO
2
emissions than conventional PET foams.
Excellent technical andmechanical properties
The very good insulation properties of foams based on polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) are still little known: PEThas a closed-cell structure
and low thermal conductivity (λ
23°C
≤ 0.034W/m·K). With a density of
100 kg/m³ PET segments are lighter weight than the previously used
PUR cores (140 - 145 kg/m³). Yet at the same time PET displays higher
pressure resistance thanPURandwithstands aging. A furtherbenefit of
the new PETmaterial is the residual flexibilitywhich greatlyminimizes
the riskof thematerial breakingon largepipediameters.
ThenewArmafix pipe support is available as ArmafixAF, in thehalogen-
freeArmafixNH version and as the low-smokeArmafixUltima pipe sup-
port. Inaddition,ArmacellofferstheArmafixAFductsupport for installing
airducts.AsasystemwithArmaflexUltima thepipesupportachieves the
fireclassB
L
-s1,d0, thebest fireclass forelastomeric insulationmaterials.
Simpleassembly thanks tomatchingquick-release couplings
The feed and return pipes can be separated easily and attached to the
collector and heat storage tank. No special tools are required for the
assembly.With thematching quick-release couplings the flexible pipes
canbeconnected to thesystemcomponentsof solar thermal systems in
seconds.
The assembly of the quick-release couplings is shown in a
videoonYouTube
