A Highly Productive Basin-Type-Multiple-Effect Coupled Solar Still

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A newly designed multiple-effect solar still with a triangle cross-section consisting of a horizontal basin liner, a tilted double glass cover and the vertical parallel partitions in contact with saline-soaked wicks was presented. Solar radiation is absorbed in the basin and in the first partition, and the partition section recycles the energy from the basin as well as the absorbed solar energy to increase drastically the distillate productivity.The proposed still was theoretically analyzed at various values for design, operational and weather parameters to determine the optimum values for the parameters. A solar still was constructed based on the optimum values and then outdoor experiments with the still were performed over two years. The distillate productivity of the still was less than the theoretical predictions by 20-30% for the first test period. After sandwiching 20 small lumps between each partition and the next one, the productivity increased and was as much as the theoretical predictions. It was found that the proposed still is more productive by 50% or more than the conventional multiple-effect solar still consisting of tilted parallel partitions, and the maintenance of the proposed still requires less effort and cost.