Improving solar still productivity via fin optimization: computational and experimental investigations

Abstract

ABSTRACT Solar desalination offers a promising solution to conserve energy and meet the growing demand for freshwater. To improve the productivity of solar stills, the incorporation of fins on the absorber has been explored. This study aims at investigating the impact of various fin geometric parameters on solar still efficiency using an experimentally validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model. The study specifically examines the height, width, and spacing between the fins, with three levels assessed for each parameter. Solar radiation and temperature distributions are measured through an experimental design. The discrete ordinate (DO) model is used to capture the solar radiation, while the k-ε Renormalization-group (RNG) is employed to investigate the effect of the turbulence. To ensure mesh independent results, a grid size independence test is conducted. The CFD results are validated against experiments, demonstrating an error less than 4%. The findings show that fins having a height of 30–50 mm increase basin temperature by 2.6%, boosting freshwater productivity by 0.03 l/m2.h, and improving solar still efficiency by 1.74%. Widening fin width raises water basin temperature by 10.4%, resulting in 4% efficiency enhancement. Reducing fin spacing from 130 mm to 30 mm increases productivity by 0.04 l/m2.h, which corresponds to 2.48% efficiency improvement. These findings suggest a careful consideration of fin design parameters can further enhance this efficiency.