Improving the trays solar still performance using reflectors and phase change material with nanoparticles
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of internal reflectors on the trays distiller performance was investigated, and the influence of painting the surfaces of the solar still by the mixture of black paint and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles was studied.
Abstract: The potable water shortage is a big problem facing the governments and decision-makers everywhere. Solar distiller is one of the techniques that participate in solving this problem. In this work, the impact of internal reflectors on the trays distiller performance was investigated. Besides, the influence of painting the surfaces of the solar still by the mixture of black paint and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles was studied. This is to enhance the heat transfer characteristics between the basin surfaces and water. Finally, the impact of using the paraffin wax mixed with CuO nanoparticles as a phase change material (PCM) on the performance of trays distiller was evaluated. Experimental results revealed that the total freshwater yield of the trays distiller was improved by 57, 14, 70.7, and 108% when using reflectors, CuO nanoparticles in paint, reflectors and nano-coating, and the collection of reflectors, nano coating, and PCM with CuO nanoparticles respectively over that of the reference still. Also, the total accumulated freshwater of the conventional and trays solar stills reached 2400 and 5000 mL/m² a day, respectively. Moreover, the thermal efficiency of the trays distiller with reflectors, nano-paint coating, and PCM-CuO nanoparticles mixture was 51.5%.
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01 Mar 2016
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of the corrugated solar still (CrSS) and the conventional solar still were investigated from another point of view, and the results indicated an enhancement in the total productivity and efficiency of the CrSS.
Abstract: 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.
98 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an experimental work has been conducted to augment the performance of trays solar stills by using phase change material (PCM) mixed with CuO nanoparticles and electrical heaters.
Abstract: In this study, an experimental work has been conducted to augment the performance of trays solar still. The absorber surface area and rate of heat transfer between the absorber and the saline water have been increased. Hence, the trays solar stills with flat and corrugated absorber configurations were investigated. Three solar stills have been fabricated and tested. The tested solar stills are flat trays solar still (FTSS), corrugated trays solar still (CTSS), and conventional solar still (CSS). Wick material has been used to cover the corrugated where the wick feed water flows very slowly through the porous material upward. For further improvement of trays solar still performance, phase change material (PCM) mixed with CuO nanoparticles has been used to test the CTSS. Also, three electric heaters have been used to heat the basin water. The heaters derived their energy directly from a PV module. The PV module was installed directly beside the back side of the solar still thereby utilizing the same solar still space. Experimental results obtained showed that, the total freshwater yield of the CTSS was improved by 150 and 122% when using electric heaters and the and PCM with CuO nanoparticles, respectively, over that of the CSS. In addition, the total water production of the CTSS was improved by 180% when using corrugated absorber, PCM mixed with CuO nanoparticles and electrical heaters in comparison to the CSS.
93 citations
Cites background from "Improving the trays solar still per..."
...[47], investigated the influence of painting the trays solar still surfaces with the mixture of black paint and copper oxide (CuO) nanoparticles for the purpose of enhancing the convective heat transfer coefficient between the water and the basin surfaces....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a step distillation system with fixed suspended trays over the vertical walls of the steps to increase the evaporation and exposure surface areas was proposed, and a parallel cavity was created under the steps' liner to work as a heat storing space.
Abstract: In the present work, we conducted some modifications in the design and operation of stepped distiller to improve its performance. The stepped distiller was modified by installing fixed suspended trays over the vertical walls of the steps to increase the evaporative and exposure surface areas. Also, we created a parallel cavity under the steps’ liner to work as a heat storing space. This cavity was filled by a paraffin wax mixed by Al2O3 nanoparticles as a phase change material (PCM). Besides, the stepped solar distiller performance was studied under integrating the distiller with an external condenser. Furthermore, the performance of the stepped solar still was investigated under different fan speeds of zero, 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2400, and 2800 rpm. The performance of the solar still was evaluated under the different conditions individually and combined. Results revealed that the stepped solar distiller, either with or without condenser, had better performance than the reference solar still. At the case of using suspended trays only, the stepped distiller recorded a productivity of 4175 mL/m2 a day versus 3800 mL/m2 a day for the reference distiller with an improvement of 9.8%. Moreover, using the suspended trays and Al2O3/paraffin wax mixture in the parallel cavity increased the productivity of the solar still by around 40%, where the productivity was 5740 and 4100 mL/m2 a day for the stepped and reference stills, respectively. In addition, the optimum fan speed obtaining the maximum productivity improvement for the stepped distiller over the conventional still was 2000 rpm, where the productivity of the stepped still was improved by 55% over that of the reference still. At this fan speed of 2000 rpm, the daily distillate of the conventional and stepped distillers was 4000 and 6200 mL/m², respectively. Finally, the average daily thermal efficiency of the stepped solar still was 46%, 48.7%, and 52.4% when using the suspended trays, suspended trays with PCM, suspended trays with PCM and fan at 2000 rpm, respectively. While the average thermal efficiency of the reference basin distiller was ranged between ~ 38 – 41%. Finally, the cost of the distilled water of stepped still and reference still is 0.014 and 0.015 $/L, respectively.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of tilted wick solar stills including new absorber configurations have been investigated, and the results showed that the increase in the daily yields when compared with CSS are 75 %, 93 % and 100 % for FWSS, BWSS, and CWSS, respectively.
77 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a new working mechanism of the wick in the pyramid solar distiller was proposed, where the jute wick with wick cords dangled from the basin cracks were used to withdraw the basin water and keep the surface wet all the time.
73 citations
References
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TL;DR: In this article, the design modification of a single basin solar still has been investigated to improve the solar still performance through increasing the productivity of distilled water by using nanofluids and integrating the still basin with external condenser.
283 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a hybrid solar distillation system comprising of corrugated and wick absorbers of solar stills is integrated with an external condenser to examine their performance, and the performance of CrWSS with internal reflectors, integrated with external condensor and using different types of nanomaterials is investigated and compared with the conventional still.
223 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a thermal model has been developed to determine the convective mass transfer for different Grashof Number range in solar distillatiOn process, which is based on simple regression analysis.
223 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of using different types of nanomaterials on the performance of solar still were studied and the performance was investigated at different weight fraction concentrations of nanoparticles in basin water with and without providing vacuum.
212 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the performance of a modified stepped solar still with internal and external reflectors was investigated and the results indicated that during experimentation the productivity of the modified step solar still was higher than that for conventional still approximately by 125%.
201 citations