article · Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Solar stills provide freshwater for remote areas and small households, but generally suffer from low output. This research evaluated two modified rotating wick solar stills: one featuring an LC-shaped belt path and the other an L-shaped belt path. The investigation assessed black cotton versus jute wicks, rotation direction, operational timing cycles, external reflectors, an exhaust fan, and graphene quantum dots nanofluid. Jute wicks generated more distilled water than black cotton cloth. Across all pause intervals, counterclockwise belt rotation produced higher yields than clockwise movement. In standard testing with a cycle of five minutes on and thirty minutes off, the LC-shaped distiller produced 17 percent more daily distillate than the L-shaped configuration, achieving 86 percent thermal efficiency. Incorporating nanofluids, reflectors, and an exhaust fan increased the LC still yield by 28 percent over the L-shaped version, reaching 87 percent thermal efficiency.
Clean drinking water remains scarce in many isolated areas where centralised infrastructure is absent. Solar stills offer an accessible, decentralised purification solution, yet low daily output restricts their practical value. Demonstrating how simple geometry changes, cycle timing, and thermal additives substantially boost water yield helps make small-scale solar desalination far more effective and viable for remote families.
The findings are relevant to developers of decentralised water purification units, targeting remote areas and small families. By detailing specific mechanical configurations, timing cycles, and nanofluid enhancements that lower production costs to 0.016, the study offers design criteria for equipment manufacturers. However, this is applied laboratory-scale research, meaning integration, component durability, and real-world field trials are still required before near-market commercial devices can be realised.
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The freshwater shortage problem is increasing day after day. Solar stills are suitable devices to overcome this problem for small families and remote areas. However, these devices suffer from their low productivity. Two different modified designs for spinning wick solar stills were tested here. One distiller contained a rotating wick belt with a path of “LC” character shape (LC-RWSS), and the other with a path of “L” shape (L-RWSS). Additionally, the wick type was studied for black cotton and jute wicks. Moreover, the influence of belt-rotation direction (counterclockwise and clockwise) on the performance of solar still has been investigated. The period of wick belt rotation was tested (ON = 5 min and different OFF times = zero, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 min). Also, the impact of utilizing graphene quantum dots nanofluid on the performance of LC-RWSS was considered. In addition, the effects of external reflectors and exhaust fan were examined. Results indicated that the jute wick provided more distillate than the cotton cloth. Furthermore, the productivity of LC-RWSS with counterclockwise movement of wick belt was always larger than that with clockwise direction under all different OFF times. In addition, the best output yield of LC-RWSS (at 0.1 rpm with jute wick-counterclockwise) was achieved when operating the wick belt under 30 min OFF and 5 min ON times, the LC still had a daily distillate more than L still by 17%. The thermal efficiency of L still and LC still was 82% and 86%, under 30 min OFF period of belt. With reflectors, exhaust fan and nano, the best output yield of LC-RWSS was provided when operating the belt under 10 min OFF and 5 min ON times. The LC still had a total yield more than that of the L still by 28% with 87% thermal efficiency. Also, the cost of freshwater obtained is 0.016 for LC still with reflectors, fan and nanofluids.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.csite.2023.103205
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