Sabae Khaing, War War Min Swe
Corresponding email: [email protected]
A B S T R A C T
Solar water distillation systems are required for developing countries, especially in rural areas with an increasing population and environmental water pollution where there is no clean drinking water. Thus, solar still is the most important technology to increase pure water productivity in these regions. So, it is necessary to explore more about the system of solar distillation. In practical applications, design and performance analysis are essential to predict the efficiency of the solar still. This study aims to present the analysis of the temperature profile and fresh water output of the pyramid-shaped solar water distillation system by theoretical, numerical, and experimental analysis. The CFD simulation of the solar water distillation system was created using ANSYS FLUENT, and the experimental test was conducted in Mandalay, Myanmar, which is situated at a North Latitude of 21.996° and an East Longitude of 96.1° on 23rd April, 2022. In the performance analysis, the glass cover was tilted at 45°, and the water depth in the basin was 1 cm. For output verification, the experimental measurements were compared with theoretical and numerical results. The highest solar heat flux was 811.36 W/m2 in theory and 799.32W/m2 in experiment at 12:00 noon. During the solar still operation, the basin temperature was higher than the water and glass cover temperatures. The highest operating temperatures in the solar still in theoretical, numerical, and experimental analysis were 330 K, 331 K and 332 K respectively. The maximum pure water productivity was obtained at 335.5 ml/hr in theoretical analysis, 357.4 ml/hr in numerical analysis, and 437.5 ml/hr in experimental analysis. It has been found that all the analytical results among the theoretical, numerical, and experimental works show good agreement, which verifies and supports each other.