Experimental investigation of performance of cascade solar water desalination system equipped with internal reflector and concave steps

Abstract

BackgroundProduction of fresh water with desalination techniques has become one of the most important issues in the world. MethodsIn this paper, the efficiency of the concave stepped solar water desalination device equipped with the internal reflector is investigated experimentally. Two solar desalination devices are fabricated, which are the same in terms of dimensions, number of steps, and working and environmental conditions. The only difference between them is the shape of the steps. In one device, steps with a flat bottom with an internal reflector are used and in another device, steps with a concave bottom and an internal reflector are used. Two solar desalination devices are tested simultaneously to evaluate the effect of the shape of the steps on the efficiency of the desalination device. All tests were carried out in Semnan city with geographical coordinates N 33.35, E 53.230, located in Iran. Significant findingsThe results indicated that the amount of fresh water generated by the cascade solar water desalination systems with the flat steps and the modified concave steps are 466 and 621 cc/m2, respectively. The highest performance of solar desalination system occurs at 14:00. In addition, the modified cascade solar desalination system with the concave steps has about 25% higher efficiency as compared to that with the flat steps. The economic analysis is also done for both desalination systems. The cost analysis shows that the production costs for the devices with the flat steps and modified concave steps are 0.03 and 0.028 $/l/m2, respectively.