The Effct of Coupling Flat Plate Collectors with Basin-Solar Stills

Abstract

Two identical single - effects of single basin solar stills are designed, fabricated, tested, and evaluated. One is operated alone while the other is coupled to a flat plate solar collector. Both are installed at the same site in Tripoli, Libya, at 32º 48´ 51˝N and 13º 26´ 17˝E.They are oriented due to the south with a tilt angle of 23°. Measurements of various parameters are taken in August 2009 at each hour for several days under different operating conditions.Two operational modes are considered. The tests were conducted using seawater of 35,000 ppm. The depth of water in the basin is kept fixed at 60 mm. Freshwater production of the coupled still is measured to be 6.6 L/day which is higher than that of the single still by 55.84%. The maximum daily efficiency is calculated to be 14.48% for the single still while it is only 24.18% for the couple still. Th still thermal performance is found to have a complex function of geometry, construction, operational conditions, site characteristics and layout details