Development of Solar Desalination Units Using Solar Concentrators or/and Internal Reflectors

Abstract

Solar distillation is one of the oldest and simplest technologies for desalination of salty water using renewable energy, namely solar energy, and the main problem of solar distillers is the low freshwater yield in contrast to the amount of energy input from the sun. To overcome the problem, this study develops three solar desalination units by using solar concentrators or/and internal reflectors, and compares the performance of three developed systems with the one of a conventional solar distiller under the climatic conditions of the Rabat region of Morocco. The three systems are: the solar distiller with a solar concentrator, the solar distiller with internal reflectors, and the solar distiller with a solar concentrator and internal reflectors. The energy balance equations of the systems are numerically resolved to utilize MATLAB software. The findings indicate that the utilization of the internal reflectors, the solar concentrator, and the solar concentrator and internal reflectors give better performance compared to the conventional solar distiller.

Theoretical Investigation for the Influence of Various Parameters on the Performance of a Novel Concentration-Based Solar Desalination System

“…The concentration ratio is the area of the PTC aperture divided by the area of the absorber. The concentration ratio for the new system is 4.8 [17][18][19].…”

“…The water vapor on the inside surface of the glass cover subsequently condenses and forms the freshwater, which is collected in the segments on either side of the distiller. The glass cover releases heat to the environment once more by convection and radiation [17][18][19].…”

“…The thermophysical properties and design parameters of the glass cover, brackish water, and absorber basin as well as the technical characteristics of PTC are listed in Tables 1-4. To study the impact of parameters on the freshwater yield and efficiency of the new system, it is necessary to make the following hypotheses [17][18][19]:…”