The Effect of Geometry on the Yield of Fresh Water from Single Slope Solar Stills

Djamal Eddine Benhadji Serradj, Timothy Anderson () and Roy Nates
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Djamal Eddine Benhadji Serradj: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
Timothy Anderson: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
Roy Nates: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland 1010, New Zealand

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-18

Abstract: When examining the research literature relating to single slope solar stills it is apparent that much of the work has been conducted in an ad-hoc manner. This has led to several recommendations relating to the geometry of stills having developed that do not appear to have a sufficient evidentiary basis. To address this issue, this study used computational fluid dynamics simulations to examine the natural convection in single slope solar stills with cover angles between 0° and 60° and aspect ratios ranging from 1 to 8, with the results validated experimentally. Treating cover angle and aspect ratio as independent design variables showed that there are some features of the natural convection flow that account for the variation in yields reported in the literature (transitions between uni- and multi-cellular flow). More specifically, it was shown that the geometric effects could be correlated in the form of a generalized relationship and that this was able to predict the yield from several independent solar stills reported in the literature. As such, the use of the relationship will allow single slope solar stills designers to predict their yield far more accurately than is currently possible.

Keywords: natural convection; single slope solar still; geometry; cover angle; aspect ratio (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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