article · Alexandria Engineering Journal
Solar desalination via solar stills is typically limited by low daily water yields. An experimental evaluation examined design modifications to improve heat transfer and freshwater production in a trays solar still. The setup tested finned absorbers covered with porous jute wick materials to draw feed water upwards, internal reflecting mirrors, and phase change materials enhanced with copper oxide nanoparticles. Additionally, three electric heaters powered by an integrated photovoltaic cell were deployed in the water basin. Experimental results demonstrated significant improvements over conventional solar stills. Deploying the finned tray design alongside the electric heaters boosted productivity by 166 percent, while using the nano-enhanced phase change materials alone increased it by 136 percent. Operating both the photovoltaic-powered heaters and the nano-enhanced thermal storage simultaneously increased daily water productivity by 196 percent compared to conventional solar stills.
Solar stills offer a simple way to produce drinking water from saline sources, but low daily yields restrict their usefulness. By combining finned wicks, nano-enhanced thermal storage, and solar-powered electric heating, this configuration nearly triples freshwater output. This demonstrates how thermal and photovoltaic enhancements can boost the practical output of solar desalination systems.
The work relates to decentralised water purification and solar desalination equipment, with potential value for equipment manufacturers and communities in sun-rich areas needing fresh water. Because the findings are based on experimental prototype testing involving multiple integrated components, such as nanofluid-enhanced phase change materials and photovoltaic-powered heaters, the technology represents applied and tested laboratory-stage research that requires further system optimisation and cost assessment before commercial development.
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Solar stills are famous techniques of solar desalination methods, but they suffer from the low daily water production. In this work, an experimental study was conducted to enhance the trays solar still (TSS) performance. The heat transfer rate between the saline water and absorber of TSS has been improved. So, the performance of TSSs with flat and finned absorbers shapes was studied. The tested SSs were conventional solar still (CSS), TSS, and finned TSS (FTSS). Jute wick materials were utilized to cover the finned absorbers, where the wick feed water flows slowly to upward through the porous material. The influence of installing reflecting mirrors on the internal sides of TSS was studied. For further enhancement of TSS performance, phase change materials mixed with copper oxide-nanoparticles has been utilized to test the FTSS performance. In addition, 3 electric heaters have been utilized to heat the water basin. The photovoltaic cell was added beside the back wall of the FTSS thereby using the same FTSS space and used as a power source for the electric heaters. Results indicated that the FTSS productivity was enhanced by 166 and 136% when utilizing the heaters and phase change materials with nanoparticles compared to that of the CSS, respectively. Also, the daily water productivity of the FTSS was enhanced by 196% over the CSS when using both the electrical heaters and phase change materials with nanoparticles at the same time.
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DOI: 10.1016/j.aej.2022.06.033
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