Evaluation of the Thermal Performance of a Single Slope Solar Still Using Sensible Heat Storage Materials

Document Type : Original Research

Author

معهد بحوث الهندسة الزراعية مركز البحوث الزراعية

Abstract

The quality of water can be improved through desalination with solar stills. To improve productivity and performance of a single slope solar still can used sensible heat storage medium. Four identical units of single-slope solar still are designed at the Agricultural Engineering Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Suez Canal University, Egypt (latitude angle of 30.62ºN and Longitude angle of 32.27ºE). The unit consists of a basin made of 1 mm galvanized sheet with a net surface area of 1.04 m2 and a depth of 0.1 m. The main condensation surface is a 3 mm transparent glass with a 31 ° angle on the horizontal facing south. The four units were fed with brackish water from the Suez Canal. Black granite, concrete stone and gravels were selected as a sensible heat storage material, which can store the largest amount of solar energy at different quantities (10,15 and 20 kg). The experimental results showed that, the daily average productivity of fresh water for the solar stills with sensible heat storage materials were higher than that of the conventional solar still.

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