Sustainable freshwater production using novel cascade solar still with phase change material, serpentine water path, and copper fins

Abstract

Heat losses in solar stills are high, which has led to a decrease in their thermal efficiency. Also, the production of these devices is limited to the presence of the sun, and their production stops during cloudy hours or at night. To solve these problems, in this experimental study, two cascade solar stills are examined under relatively similar conditions for sustainable freshwater production. One of these solar stills is modified with the phase change material and copper fins, and another one is a conventional cascade solar still without using the phase change material and copper fins. Paraffin was selected as a heat storage material to increase the time of desalination of water by the solar still. In addition, the copper fins are used to increase the conduction heat transfer in phase change material and provide better melting and solidification processes. To prolong the water path along the steps, the serpentine water path was considered. The results showed that at sunset hours, desalination efficiency with phase changing material and fins was increased. At 5 pm, the efficiency of the modified device was increased by 29% (on average) as compared to the conventional solar still without using phase changing material and fins. The rate of water production in conventional solar still in midday was higher compared to the modified solar still. However, in the sunset and night hours, the modified solar still has a higher production rate due to heat released from the thermal storage system.

Keywords: Cascade solar still; Efficiency; Fin; Phase changing material; Serpentine path.