An experimental comparison for thermos-economic performance of five different designs of solar stills

Abstract

Five different solar stills (SSs) have been tested in this experimental study. Hemispherical SS, tubular SS, pyramid SS, double slope SS, and conventional SS are the five SS systems. The primary goal is to determine which SS will perform more effectively at the testing location. Initially, the SSs were evaluated with no changes and the outcomes were contrasted with those of the conventional SS. Secondly, exterior reflectors have been added to four SSs. Third, hemispherical SS and tubular SS with reflectors have been utilized with phase change material (PCM) combined with Ag-Nanoparticles. Lastly, tests using reflectors, fan, and external condensers have been conducted on the hemispherical SS and tubular SS. The findings showed that the increase in productivity for hemispherical SS, tubular SS, pyramid SS, and double slope SS without modifications are 107 %, 97 %, 66.5 %, and 30 % greater than that of conventional SS, respectively. Furthermore, the results depicted that employing reflectors improved the productivity rise for tubular SS, hemispherical SS, pyramid SS, and double slope SS to be higher than conventional SS's productivity by 168 %, 153 %, 113 %, and 85 %, respectively. Besides, the effect of employing PCM-Ag with hemispherical SS and tubular SS (with reflector) is increasing their productivity to be 202 % and 212 % higher than conventional SS's production, respectively. Also, the hemispherical SS and tubular SS with reflector, fan, and a condenser showed 217 % and 236 % higher productivity than conventional SS. The actual cost of producing water for the conventional SS, hemispherical SS, and tubular SS with reflectors and fan is 0.0244, 0.012, and 0.013 $/L, respectively.