Hybridized high concentration photovoltaic unit with enhanced performance air gap membrane distillation unit via depositing reduced graphene oxide layer upon the condensation plate using electrophoretic deposition technique

Abstract

Amongst the membrane distillation techniques, the air gap configurations showed an outstanding thermal efficiency, while a decline in productivity was recorded due to the additional thermal and mass resistances. The current study proposes minimizing the additional thermal and mass resistances by altering the condensation process to dropwise condensation. Depositing a layer of reduced graphene oxide using the electrophoretic deposition technique on the copper condensation plate was investigated to obtain a hydrophobic nature and attain dropwise condensation. Moreover, different operating conditions were examined for the optimum conditions, which were 45 V, 30 s, 1 cm, and 0.5 mg/ml, for the applied voltage, deposition time, distance between electrodes, and concentration, respectively. This modified condensation plate was investigated experimentally on the lab-scale test rig and showed an improvement in the productivity of 12.5% and 28.5% at the minimum and maximum feed temperatures, respectively. On the other hand, solar energy was utilized to eliminate the heating source required for the membrane distillation unit. A high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) unit was introduced numerically in the current work with 36 multijunction cells. Furthermore, a microchannel heat sink was successfully designed to keep the cells from thermal degradation. The numerical results showed that the HCPV system could supply hot water up to 55 °C and produce electric power up to 230 W.