Improving Performance of Solar Still by External Solar Panels and Cylindrical Parabolic Collector for Seawater Desalination

Abstract

This study has examined the use of a cylindrical parabolic collector (CPC) and solar panels in the solar still unit for more heating. The results of two different setups were then compared so that the first setup was a simple solar still unit and the second setup was a solar still unit with solar panels and the CPC device. The depth of saline water in the basin was 30 mm. Based on the results, the use of solar panels, thermal elements and the CPC device had a major impact on the amount of water sweetening during the experiments. In this paper, the experiments presented a new method for increasing the amount of water. With regards to the newly presented method, there has been a significant increase in the amount of solar energy absorbed in the whole process of water sweetening. Experiments were performed at 300-watt and 400-watt solar panels and CPC devices with lengths of 1 m and 2 m. The cooling of solar panels was also investigated and compared with the process without cooling.