Enhancement of single solar still integrated with solar dishes: An experimental approach

Abstract

The current experimental work targets to progress in the daily production of fresh water of a single solar still. Two identical solar parabolic dishes were equipped with two conical tanks were integrated with a single solar still and four modules of PV with total power output 1000 W. Each PV module is about 1650 mm × 992 mm × 46 mm dimensions. The proposed system was constructed and tested for three months under the weather conditions of Ismailia, Egypt. The area ratio of the receiver to the absorber is 100. The solar parabolic dish is of 2000 mm diameter. The modified system is used to increase the water basin temperature during the sunrise period. The basin water is recirculated to the cone tanks and sprayed in the solar still to increase the evaporation rate. The proposed system is controlled with a control unit which receives the input signals from various sensors and operates the output. The effect of basin water depths is studied at two values 10 and 20 mm. The experimental results were conducted in three cases that represent the conventional solar still, one solar parabolic dish, and two solar parabolic dishes. The experimental results showed that, the daily distillate productivity in case of one solar dish is 8.8 and 5.45 kg/day at the two water depths 10 and 20 mm, respectively. The usage of the two solar dishes integrates with the solar still increase the daily productivity to reach 13.63 and 7.69 kg/day at the two water depths 10 and 20 mm respectively.