A Single Basin Square Pyramid Solar Still Analysis Of Productivity Of Water

Abstract

Freshwater availability on the Earth surface is only about 1%, and more than 80 countries manage water scarcity. Climate change is the most severe threat to the human on the Earth. The desalination process uses solar radiation to produce freshwater using solar still. In the solar still desalination process, evaporation and condensation rates are essential to the operation. The primary goal of this study is to increase the rate of evaporation and condensation. newlineThe Conventional Pyramid-Shaped Solar Still (CPSSS) has multiple slopes. The theoretical analysis considers three factors: the tilt angle of the transparent cover, the height of the brine in the basin, and the average distance between the brine top surface and the transparent cover inner surface to optimize the freshwater yield. CPSSS at a tilt angle of 30o, newline0.02 m brine height, and 0.15 m distance between the brine top surface and the transparent cover inner surface produced 17%, 26%, and 38% higher freshwater yield than a CPSSS at a tilt angle of 50o, 0.06 m brine height, and 0.45 m distance between the brine top surface and the transparent cover inner surface. newlineThe experiment setup is used to achieve the goal of increasing evaporation and condensation rate. The novel aspect of this study is to increase the evaporation rate by minimizing heat loss to the atmosphere newline newline newline newline newline newlinefrom the CPSSS through bottom and sidewall insulation. Double transparent covers with no air leakage act to maximize the heat storage in the system. A modified transparent air packed pyramid cover is placed above the square basin (APSSS). The experiments were carried out in CPSSS and MPSSS at Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. newlineThe heat inside the APSSS raises the temperature of the transparent cover due to the air packed pyramid cover. Compared to the CPSSS, APSSS decreases the condensation rate and reduces the freshwater yield by 39%. newlineA new novelty design of shading the transparent cover in the CPSSS (SPSSS) reduces the temperature of the transparent cover and improves the condensation rate. The