The performance parameters of the corrugated solar still (CrSS) and conventional solar still (CSS) are investigated
experimentally from another point of view. The authors' view concerns with using the double layer wick material
and also reflectors together inside the CrSS. In addition, the influence of saline water depth (1, 2, and 3 cm) on
CrSS performance was also investigated. Results indicated an enhancement in the total productivity and efficiency of the CrSS. During experimentations, the productivities of CrSS with wick and reflectors are about 145.5%
higher than the CSS, at a brine depth of 1 cm, and the daily efficiency of CrSS and CSS are approximately 59%
and 33%, respectively.

دراسة عملية لوحدة تقطير ذات ماص مموج مع خيش وعواكس / Experimental investigation of corrugated absorber solar still with wick and reflectors

Experimental investigation of convex tubular solar still performance using wick and nanocomposites

This article presented an indoor experiment on developing a mathematical model for predicting the productivity of an ethanol solar still of basin type. The test still contained a horizontal evaporating surface and a condensing surface inclined 14° to a horizontal. Various concentrations of ethanol–water solution were employed for this experiment. The distillation temperature range included boiling point. The collected data were used to estimate the mass-transfer coefficient and mass transfer conductance of the solar still. Accordingly, a mathematical model was developed based on the Spalding theory of convection and the Fick's law of diffusion. In order to increase the performance at the outdoor conditions, a basin solar still was integrated with a set of fin-plate fitting in the still basin for distillation of a 10%v/v alcohol solution. It was found that the productivity of the modified solar still was increased by 15.5%, compared to that of a conventional still. Moreover, the predicted still efficiency by the model could increase to 46% when a number of fins that raised an effective absorptance were increased. Condition of high concentration output and high productivity was investigated. Monthly mean productivity and efficiency of the still were found to increase with daily mean insolation.

The thermal performance of an ethanol solar still with fin plate to increase productivity

Performance assessment of a novel solar distiller with a double slope basin covered by coated wick with lanthanum cobalt oxide nanoparticles

As well known, the solar distiller is one of the introduced solutions to the freshwater shortage problem, but it is demerited by the low freshwater output. In this paper, a design modification that includes the use of a convex dish absorber instead of a flat absorber liner was proposed. Also, a circular stepped surface was used instead of the flat absorber surface. The modified solar distiller is nominated by dish solar distiller and abbreviated by DSD. In addition, a cotton wick was used as a wetting material for facilitating the evaporation process inside the distiller. Besides, the effect of different water heights in the steps was investigated for 0.50, 1, 1.50, 2, and 3 cm. Finally, the space under the dish absorber is filled with a phase change material (PCM) of paraffin wax mixed with CuO nanoparticles. Experimental results revealed that the best water depth over the steps absorber of DSD that provided the highest freshwater productivity was 1.50 cm, where the average daily yields of DSD (at 1.50 cm) and conventional distillers were reported as 6525 and 2800 mL/m².day, respectively. Then, the productivity of DSD was improved by around 133% over that of the conventional distiller. In addition, when using the phase change material, the average daily distillate of stepped DSD was improved by approximately 178% compared to that of the conventional solar still, where the distillate of conventional still and DSD with PCM at 1.50 cm water depth over the steps absorber of DSD was 2950 and 8200 mL/m².day, respectively. The water productivity of the three established solar distillers has been predicted using machine learning algorithms. Besides, the maximum thermal efficiency of DSD was obtained when using PCM at 1.5 cm water depth over the steps absorber of DSD, where it was 67.62% compared to 31.71% for the conventional distiller. The proposed machine learning algorithms succeeded in predicting water productivity with a high correlation coefficient of 0.99. 

Machine learning-based prediction and augmentation of dish solar distiller performance using an innovative convex stepped absorber and phase change material with nanoadditives

This paper aimed to improve the thermal performance of the stepped solar still. So, the effects of using different types of basin liners (corrugated and curved basin liners), jute cloth wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction on the stepped solar still performance were investigated. The CuO/paraffin wax was placed into a groove parallel to the basin steps’ liner. Also, the stepped distiller was integrated with an external condensation unit. The experimental results revealed that using the corrugated and curved liners increased the productivity of the modified stepped solar still (MSSS) by 42% and 33%, respectively. In addition, using the corrugated liner with wick, corrugated liner with wick and CuO/paraffin wax, corrugated liner with wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction improved the freshwater productivity of the distiller by 95%, 127%, and 170%, respectively. At the last studied case (MSSS with corrugated liner, wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction), the daily freshwater productivities of the MSSS and conventional still (CSS) were 7000 and 2600 mL/m2·day, respectively. Also, the thermal efficiency of MSSS was calculated as 59% which was obtained at the last studied case. And the efficiency of the CSS was 35%. Besides, the distilled water cost of CSS and MSSS with corrugated liner with wick, CuO/paraffin wax, and vapor suction was 0.023 and 0.014 $/L, respectively.

Sengottiyan Shanmugan

Papers

Augmenting the productivity of stepped distiller by corrugated and curved liners, CuO/paraffin wax, wick, and vapor suctioning