Experimental and numerical investigations with environmental impacts of affordable square pyramid solar still

Abstract

In this work, a square pyramid solar still is designed, fabricated and tested during recommended days at the four seasons of Al Kufa climatic conditions (elevation is 30 m and location is 32° North and 44° East), Iraq. The proposed design of the still can be used at any remote location in Iraq where is no electricity and high solar intensity. Designing the affordable solar still was mainly due to simplicity in its operation process, long life and low cost. Data obtained from an advanced simulation modeling of multi-shaped solar stills are used to determine the temperature gradient and the heat flux distributions during unsteady-state conditions. The procedure of the modelling is included: volumetric properties of the solid and fluid regions, thermal loads on the still, mesh generation, grid convergence index and grid refinery processes. The experiments were measured during the four seasons to investigate the temperatures of water, glass, ambient, water production and solar intensity. The results show that the maximum daily water production of the designed still is 2.2 L/m2 in 17th of July with a low cost of 15 US dollars. The numerical model is predicted the thermal behavior of triangle, pyramid and pentagon types of solar stills. The results also show that the efficiency of the designed still is significantly improved to 60% compared with other experimental solar stills. The results also demonstrate that the manufacturing and transferring of the portable solar still during 20 years has a reasonable effect on the environment in terms of air acidification and water eutrophication.