Experimental Investigation On a Novel Design of Hemispherical Solar Distiller With v-Corrugated Iron Trays And Wick Materials For Improving Freshwater Production

Abstract

The low energy efficiency of the solar distillers is one of the most key barriers to their effectual usage in the desalination domain. In this work, an experimental investigation was conducted to enhance the freshwater productivity of the hemispherical solar distiller. This was achieved by utilizing flat and v-corrugated iron trays configurations on the bottom of the distiller basin in order to increase the vaporization surface area for better heat transfer of saline water. Three distillers were designed and examined; namely, conventional hemispherical solar distiller (CHSD), hemispherical solar distiller with flat iron trays (HSD-FIT), and hemispherical solar distiller with v-corrugated iron trays (HSD-VIT). Moreover, the effects of using wick materials (WM) in the basin of HSD-FIT and HSD-VIT have been also investigated and compared to that of CHSD. A comparative thermo-economic analysis of HSD-VITWM, HSD-FITWM, HSD-VIT, HSD-FIT, and CHSD has been conducted to determine the better modification that maximizes the performance of hemispherical stills. Experiments were carried out at the desert climate conditions of El-Oued (33°27′N, 7°11′E), Algeria. The results showed that all modifications revealed good thermo-economic performance enhancements and the HSD-VITWM achieved the maximal improvement from both freshwater production and energo-economic performance. The freshwater productivity and energy efficiency of the HSD-VITWM were improved by 83.12 and 81.67%, respectively, relative to CHSD. Additionally, the cost of freshwater production was lowered by 41.72%.