Performance optimization of a conical solar distillation system with and without stainless-steel balls as low-cost sensible storage: Experimental study and comparative analysis

Abstract

An experimental study of a conical solar distiller's usage of inexpensive energy storage material to increase distillation yield. Stainless-steel balls are utilized in experiments because they increase the surface area of the water and are excellent energy storage devices. The goal of this research is to determine the optimal distance between the stainless-steel balls (with a fixed diameter of 1.4 cm) as a low-cost energy storage material to improve the productivity of conical solar stills. As a result, three identical conical distillates were produced. Experiments are carried out over the course of two days. On the first day, the first distiller is free of stainless-steel balls, the second distiller has a distance of 3 cm between the stainless-steel balls, and in the third distiller there are stainless-steel balls at a distance of 4 cm. The second day, the first distilled is still witness. The second and third distillers have stainless-steel balls placed at the bottom of the basin at distances of 5 and 6 cm, respectively. The depth of the brine in the basins is 1.4 cm. The distillation productivity with storage of stainless-steel balls (a diameter of 1.4 cm) with a distance of 3 cm between the stainless-steel balls achieves a maximum yield of 9500 g/m2 compared to the distillation yields with storage of stainless-steel balls with a distance of 4, 5, and 6 cm between the stainless-steel balls, which amounted to 8800, 8200, 7400, and 5750 g/m2, respectively. The optimal distance between the stainless-steel balls was found to be 3 cm, with an improvement rate of 65.22 %. Finally, conical solar energy with stainless-steel balls as a low-cost energy storage material with diameters of 1.4 cm, and a distance of 3 cm between the stainless-steel balls is still optimal.