Abstract
This article presents a transient model of a single slope single basin passive solar still. The model considers the aspect ratio of the evaporation chamber, the thermal inertia of components and the bulk water, and the salinity level. An experimental rig was designed, fabricated, and tested for various aspect ratios of the evaporation chamber. The transmissivity of the glass cover was measured during experiments and applied as an input to the model. It was found that the transmissivity is reduced by up to 21% over the day. The developed model was validated with the experimental data. The simulations and experiments were conducted in Melbourne, Australia during a summer. The model predicted outputs agree with the measured data. The predicted performance of the solar still is about 5% more than that of measured. A sensitivity analysis was conducted on the climate parameters. The simulated and measured water yield and the thermal efficiency of the solar still under a range of water depths and chamber aspect ratios are reported. A solar still with a larger aspect ratio of the evaporation chamber (shorter specific height) generates more potable water. However, the effect of lower depth of bulk water on the water yield of the system is more significant. The fabricated passive solar still generated 2.52 kg m−2 d−1 of potable water with a thermal efficiency of 19.2% for a water depth of 0.01 m and the salinity of 3% by wt. Based on the results of the simulations, the study provides recommendations to achieve maximum performance for conventional passive solar stills.
Published Version
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