Empirical investigation of two designs of incline solar water desalination system

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation of two incline solar water desalination (ISWD) systems. One design uses spray jets for spraying water onto the absorber plate, while the other uses a longitudinal slot for getting the inlet water on the absorber plate. The first ever ISWD system constructed and tested by Aybar et al (2005) used the longitudinal slot with a maximum daily production of 2.995 kg/m(2) day. The Aybar et al design produced 3.4 kg/m(2)-day while the new design produced 6.41 kg/m(2)-day for wick on absorber plate system day during the hottest months in Famagusta (July-August 2010). Also tested was the influence of porous media (wire mesh), wick on the absorber plate. The effect of number of spray jets used in the system on the daily productivity and efficiency of the systems were also investigated.