Enhanced solar desalination unit: modified evaporating wick technique

The use of solar energy for producing fresh water by desalination could avoid or reduce the expenditure of fossil fuels for that purpose. At the current time, all solar stills can be viewed as being in various stages of development, rather than as an established technology. Evaporating wick technique is developed world wide, but still has got some limitations. In the ordinary evaporating wick still made of black dyed jute, the heat collection, evaporation, and condensation takes place in the same still. To improve the efficiency and reduce the total cost of the solar still a modified unit was designed and tried. In the modified unit, the condensation operation is separated from the evaporation one. The evaporation unit which is inclined at 24/sup 0/ (the latitude of our place) consists mainly of a metallic basin having dimensions ( 1 x 1 meter) insulating with a layer of foam urethane 4 cm. thickness beneath it. The wick is suspended between two tubes, upper feeding perforated tube (2 mm. hole diameter) and lower suspending tube. The condensation unit contains the condenser which is a metallic box having dimensions of (0.9 x 0.9 meter) over which the vapor condenses. In between the evaporationmore » and condensation unit there is a 0.1 HP. fan to suck the humid air from the evaporation unit to the condensation one. The wick still is fed continuously with water (trickle feeding) from a tank equipped with a level control valve. From this feed system water will ascard by capillarity to the edge of the gutter and then flow downward by gravity. It was found that the outside condensation enhance the efficiency of energy utilization, and the productivity of the still. The performance of the still was tested in many periods all over the year, important observations from the still performance during these period were analysed. The temperature distribution was observed and analysed. Experimental results are presented in the full paper.« less