Desalination, Vol.396, 30-38, 2016
A modified solar desalination system using evacuated tube collector
Solar energy is turning to one of the important types of clean energies, due to its availability, and its potential for wide range of applications. In this work, a new passive solar desalination system is introduced, which benefits from excellences of twin-glass evacuated tube collectors. For the first time, the evacuated tube collector is not only used as the solar thermal collector, but also as a basin to heat the water. Hence, the thermal resistance between the collector and basin is virtually eliminated. Results show a considerable increase in the rate of desalinated water production and the maximum production reaches up to 0.83 kg/(m(2).h). It was observed that the maximum rate of the production occurs when the tube is in inclination angle of 35 degrees, and filled 80% with water. Moreover, it is seen that filling the tube with a stainless steel wool can enhance the production rate up to 1.01 kg/(m(2).h). It was observed that optimum inclination angle is 35 degrees, which is the latitude of location of the experiments. Moreover, a theoretical model is presented in order to evaluate the system's efficiency in quasi-steady state conditions. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.