Comparison of microcontroller-based and mechanically controlled water rate control systems in solar energy water distillation

Abstract

The current problem of solar energy water distillation is in its low efficiency. The commonly used mechanical control system still has weaknesses such as the instability of the water entering the absorber. This causes less effective evaporation of water so that the resulting distillation efficiency is not optimal. The microcontroller-based input water rate control system allows the rate of input water with a small but continuous flow rate so that the water evaporation process can be more effective. This study aimed at comparing the stability of the flow rate of water in the distillation device using a microcontroller flow regulator compared to the mechanical flow regulator. The stability of the flow was measured by changes in the rate of inflow of water to the initial rate of water flow. The research was carried out by the experimental method. The results of this study indicated that regulating the flow of water in a distillation device with a peristaltic flow control produced a more constant flow than a mechanical regulator. The change in the flow rate of inflow to the smallest initial flow rate with a peristaltic regulator was 0.2% at the variation of the initial flow rate of 1.2 liters/hour. The change in the mechanical regulating flow rate at a variation of the 1.2 liter/hour flow rate was 20%. From the results of this study, it can also be concluded that microcontroller based water rate controller is more stable than mechanical water flow control, especially in small flow.