ELSEVIER Desalination 156 (2003) 3 15-322

www.elsevier.com/locate/desal

Experimental investigation of the behavior of a solar still

coupled with hot water storage tank

K. Voropoulos, E. Mathioulakis, V. Belessiotis”

NCSR c(L>emokritos)). Solar. & other Energy Systems Laboratory, 15310 Agia Paraskevi Attikis, Athens, Greece
Tel. + 30 (210) 6503817; Fax f 30 (210) 6544592; etnail: sollab@ipta.detnokritos.gr

Received 18 December 2002; accepted 30 December 2002

Abstract

The behavior ofthe solar still-storage tank system, designed and installed in Solar & other Energy Laboratory of
NCSR “Demokritos”, is investigated through its operation under real conditions by keeping tank water temperature
constant in different levels. The solar still is of greenhouse asymmetric type, the basin of which is in direct contact
with a hot water storage tank as an integral part of the still, ensuring thus continues transfer of heat from the hot
water tank to the basin saline water. The thermal behavior of the system was investigated by several series of
measurements with the saline water temperature kept constant in different temperature levels. It has been found that
this design leads to higher water outputs as the water temperature increases but more important is the shift of water
production towards night periods. Moreover, water production rate is almost constant through out the whole period.
It has also been found that coupling solar still with hot water tank changes the whole behavior of the solar still in
such way that in the coupled system solar still acts as a condensing unit and not also as a energy collecting unit, the
case of the solar still itself. For this, changes in solar radiation do not affect the system productivity. Finally,
experimental data concerning day and night distilled water production are compared with the ones already taken in
the solar still only, indicating the effectiveness and benefits of coupling the storage tank with the still. It is proven
that the operation of the solar still-storage tank system is advantageous over the still itself regarding production
quantity, distribution, rate pattern with the ability to exploit in an optimum way available heat sources nearby such
as waste heat, geothermal energy, conventional heat, etc.

K~Jwo&: Solar still; Heat storage; Heat source; Distilled water productivity

*Corresponding author.

Presented at the Lwopean Conference on Desalination and the Environnzent. Fresh Water for All. Malta, 4--8 Ma-v 2003.
Ewopem Desaiinatior~ Sociew, International M/nter- Association.

00 I I -9 164/03/$- See front matter 0 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
PII: SO0 1 1-9 164(03)00362-X
316 h’. I bropoulos et al Desalination I56 l2003) 3 15-322

1. Introduction 2. Integration of storage tank in solar still

It is well known that the water problem, being In this paper, experimental evaluation of the
either lack or pollution of it, has become very large behavior of a solar still is presented, in which a
in many areas of our planet, especially in deserts, thermal storage tank with hot water in given
in traditionally dty regions and in modem industrial temperature levels is integrated. The integration
areas. Moreover, remote areas or islands with low of the storage tank is done in such a way that a
population, where fresh water supply by means compact solar distillation system is formed [6].
of transport is expensive, face the problem of This design leads to higher distilled water output
water shortage every day. However, it is for those due to higher basin water temperatures as a result
areas that installation and operation of solar stills of hot storage tank water. It also ensures the
seems to be a promising and the most appropriate operation of the system during periods of low or
way to deal with their water problem, given the no sunshine due to the continuation of the dis-
advantages of solar stills [ 1,2]. These include the tillation process in these periods, as a result of
use of clean, abundant, free and friendly to the the heat transfer from the hotter tank water to the
environment solar energy, easiness of construction, colder basin water.
operation and maintenance of solar stills by local The proposed solar distillation system con-
people and concurrence of periods of high SUII- cerns finally a hybrid design from the usage point
shine with high water demand. of vievv since it can provide distilled water and
The idea behind a solar still is very simple: hot water to the user. But more important is the
saline water inside a black-painted basin enclosed hybrid character of the system from the heat
in a completely air-tight area formed by a trans- source point of view, since it can exploit not only
parent cover is heated up and evaporated due to solar energy incident on saline water but also any
incident solar irradiance that passes through the other heat source available nearby, such as waste
transparent cover. Consequently water vapor is heat, conventional sources, electricity, solar
directed upward and condenses in pure water as collectors, solar pools, etc.
it comes in contact with the cooler inside surface
of the cover. Distilled water is collected in a vessel
3. The experimental setup
nearby.
Despite the advantages of solar stills, their The system under investigation consists oftwo
most important drawback is low water productivity interconnected parts An asymmetric type single-
(or performance) in comparison with other effect solar still of greenhouse type, the basin of
thermal desalination methods and to high land which is filled with saline water. The main con-
requirement [3]. This happens since productivity densing glass area, through which also solar
rate of solar stills depends on the available solar irradiance passes, is facing the south with an
radiation, meaning that during no sunshine periods inclination of 30”. The still’s black basin has an
production is practically zero. area of 12.5 m’, is parametrically insulated and is
For this, research activities nowadays move made of aluminum. A trough running along the
in the direction towards increasing performance bottom side of the cover ensures the collection of
and output of solar stills by using several tech- the distilled water and leads it to the distilled
niques [4]. These are all targeted on the concept water-collecting vessel.
of increasing the difference between saline water A water storage tank is integrated below the
temperature and glass cover temperature. since solar still. This is done by designing the system
this temperature difference (T, - r,) is actually in such way so that the bottom of the basin is
the driving force of the distillation process. actually the top of the storage tank. This means
 K. ~‘oropodos et al. :I Desalination 156 (2003) 315-322 317

that the compact solar still-storage tank system manently placed. All data are measured every
have the same area, being 12.5 m’, whereas the 1 min and recorded as average values every 10 min.
height of the tank is 30 cm, resulting to a tank
volume of 3.75 111~.The tank is also made of
4. Experimental investigation
aluminum, insulated exactly the same way as the
basin of the still in the bottom and sides. Heating The behavior of the system has been
of tank water is done through a fin-and-tube heat investigated through a series oftests, showing the
exchanger placed inside the tank, using an electric benefits of the system concerning water
heater. The heating installation is equipped with productivity and exploitation ofthe nearby energy
a temperature regulating device to keep tank water sources.
temperature almost constant is desired limits. Tests have been conducted in the compact solar
The system was designed, installed and tested still - storage tank distillation system for several
at the Solar & other Energy System Laboratory days by keeping the tank water temperature in
of NCSR “Demokritos”. A layout of the system different levels, being 70°C 60°C 50°C and
and testing installation is shown in Fig. 1. 40°C. Graph of Fig. 2 shows the basin water temp-
A measurement system has been installed for erature levels of the different series of measure-
the collection and recording of experimental data. ments. IIIeach temperature level, the system was
Solar radiation is measured with a pyranometer operated continuously for several days under
placed plane to the south side cover of the still. different climatic conditions, covering days with
Ambient air temperature is measured by a Ptl 00 high and low sunshine.
thermometer placed in a ventilated cage in order Experimental data gained are firstly evaluated
to avoid errors caused by thermal radiation. in order to show the influence of the tank water
Thermocouples have been used for measurement temperature in the system productivity, acquiring
of temperature of the water inside the basin and thus knowledge that can be used during the design
temperature of the glass cover. Temperature of of the system in relation to the available heat
the storage tank water has been measured using source. Secondly, the influence of climatic con-
eight thermocouples placed in two vertical lines ditions, and mainly solar radiation, on the system
of the tank. four sensors in each line. Finally, the production is investigated, revealing the change
amount of produced water has been recorded ofthe solar still behavior as a result of its coupling
continuously by an electronic weighing device, with the storage tank.
on which the distilled water vessel was per- Finally, the advantages of the integration of

Cover facing
south

Distilled water
vessel

Fig. 1.Schematic diagram ofthe solar still-storage

tank distillation system.
318 K. I~~~opodos
etal.! Desalination
1% (2003)3/j-322

5. Behavior of the solar still-storage tank

Tw=70°C distillation system
The operation of the system has been divided
in two periods: day and night operation. The day
operation period starts at the time when the sun
rises and ends at the time of the sunset. From this
Tw=40"C
-_ r, time the night operation period starts, which ends
at the time of the sunrise of the following day.
Table 1 gives the experimental results of
0 20 40 60 80 selected representative test days with different
Hour, [h]
levels of basin water temperature. It contains the
Fig. 2. Basin water temperatures for the series of measure- values of mean temperature of ambient air and
ments in the system. temperature difference between basin water and
still cover for the day and night operation periods,
storage tank on the solar still in production together with the respective amount of distilled
quantity and time distribution are shown by water produced. It gives also the values of solar
comparing experimental data of the proposed radiation of the test days.
compact system with experimental ones already The first obvious conclusion is that there is an
taken previously during the operation of the solar analogy in water production with respect to the
still only [5]. level of basin water temperature. The higher the

Table I
Measurements from operation ofthe solar still-storage tank distillation system with different levels of basin water temperature

Day operation period Night operation period Total production

___-
Day HA Z!.‘/, r,, .‘/- r,, /KU,, Night r,,,,, r,,,,,- 7:, M,, ,,I. M, ,,,, total, % day % night
110. MJ/m’ ‘C “C kg no. “C OC kg kg --__ ~~.
Basin water temperature 70°C
I 17.19 18.88 17.84 84.97 I 12.94 20.94 145.01 229.98 37 63
2 17.07 20.60 17.22 86.69 2 13.54 20.97 143.88 230.57 38 62
3 5.57 19.05 18.24 88.71 3 16.24 21.59 156.40 245. I 1 36 64

Basin water temperature 60°C

4 9.08 16.87 19.18 60.02 4 13.28 20.21 98.98 159.00 38 62
5 5.42 16.71 19.97 59.75 5 12.54 19.85 96.91 156.66 38 62
6 7.35 16.78 18.78 56.54 6 12.96 19.83 97.68 154.22 37 63

Basin water temperature 50°C

7 3.6 I 16.77 19.13 41.30 7 12.54 19.54 62.67 103.98 40 60
8 5.73 13.43 18.09 39.87 8 9.66 20. I5 67.74 107.61 37 63
9 7.71 15.69 17.55 38.35 9 12.69 19.67 66.98 105.33 36 64

Basin water temperature 40°C

IO 2.63 6.23 21.07 28.98 IO 6.39 19.75 42.36 71.34 31 59
I I 4.02 8.88 17.92 24.63 I 1 7.53 17.65 37.89 62.52 39 61
I2 4.13 Il.04 16.19 21.51 I2 8.91 21.01 41.52 63.03 34 66
 K. I~oropodos et al. / Desalination 156 (2003) 315-322 319

temperature the more output from the distillation 12 r”------------ ~‘.n~-.‘“~~^_y”~~- ““9

system, and this happens during day and night 10

period. The behavior of the distillation system
a
under specific temperature levels, as described
by the characteristic curve of Fig. 3, gives im- 6
portant information that can be used to the design 4
of such systems with respect to the other available
2
heat sources. 70
40 50 60
Furthermore, is it seen that there is significant Saline water temperature, [“Cl
water output not only during the day but also in
Fig. 3. Variation of distilled water production rate with basin
the night. This benefit is expected as a result of
water temperature.
coupling storage tank with solar still. In this case,
heat transfer is continued during the whole night
period from the insulated tank containing hot
0 Night
water to the colder still basin water, keeping it
hot enough, so that the distillation process is COII-
tinued intensively and uninterrupted. This is shown
clearly in the bars of Fig. 4, which depicts graphic-
ally the output of the distillation system for the
measurement days of Table I.
Another aspect that is observed by keeping
60 50
basin water temperature in certain levels is that
Basin water temperature
the water output rate of the distillation system can
be considered rather constant for the whole 24-h Fig. 4. Distilled water production of the system under
several water temperature levels.
period. This is an important advantage ofcoupling
solar still with heat storage tank of constant
temperature over the solar still itself, because it
eliminates the problem of water production rate
dependency on climatic conditions. The pro-
duction rates for selected measurement periods
of Table 1 are shown in graph of Fig. 5. /
It is furthermore noted that the increase in
production is due to the higher saline water level
I
and not to higher temperature difference of saline
water and still cover (r,, - To, since this is rather
the same in ail basin water temperature levels, as
0 20 40 60
i
80
seen in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7. Hour, [h]
Fig. 5. Distilled water production rate of the system under
6. Influence of solar radiation on distilled water several water temperature levels.
production
It is well known that the output of a solar still This happens because the still serves actually as
is strongly affected by the solar radiation falling both heat-collecting unit and condensation unit.
and absorbed by the still basin and saline water. The result is that distilled water production rate
31 0 A'. Ibropodos et ul. I Desalinalion 1.5~5
(2003) 315322

+Tw 70°C
-&- Tw - 60°C
27 +Tw - 50°C
I -+-Tw-40°C

0 20 40 60 80 17 19 21 23
Hour, [h] Tw-Tc

Fig. 6. Difference of basin water and cover temperatures Fig. 7. Influence of T,, - T, on distilled water production
for the series of measurements in the system. rate.

depends directly on the existing solar radiation This result reveals the change in the operation
and follows almost the same pattern as irradiance. behavior of the solar still. It is obvious that in the
The behavior of a solar still coupled with heat coupled still the great majority of heat transferred
storage tank however is completely different, as to saline water comes not from the sun but from
seen from the results of Table 1 and independent the hot storage tank. This is the reason why
of solar radiation. This important conclusion is changes in solar radiation do not practically affect
better seen in Fig. 8, where the production rate is production, and furthermore why production rate
shown for two days with the same basin water is almost constant not only in day but also in night
temperature (being 70°C) but with different periods. This concludes that in the coupled still
radiation levels. Although one day has high the hot water storage tank is now the heat-
radiation level of 17.1 MJ/m2 (day no. 2 of collecting unit and the solar still serves only as
Table 1) and the other has low radiation level of condensation unit, an aspect that has to be taken
5.6 MJim’ (day no. 3), the production rate is into account for the design or/and optimization
almost equal for the two days, resulting also to of solar still-storage tank distillation systems.
almost the same output.

1000

- m - high
800 T

2
600 U

6 10 14 18
Hour, [h]
Fig. 8. Influence of solar radiation on the operation of the solar still coupled with storage tank.
 K. Voropozrlos et al. // Desalination 1.56
(2003)
315-322 321

7. Effect of coupling solar still with storage ~ 6 _II .._.“_.___.._”

__._
_.,_,__,__
“.._.,_
._....”
.,...... ..“._
_..........
tank on water production still + tank i
3l
25
The driving force of the solar distillation 6 4
technique is the difference between temperature 5
of water in the still basin and temperature of the
glass cover (r,,, - T‘). The existence of such temp-
erature difference ensures the continuation of the
distillation process. Therefore, and apart from
increasing the temperature level of the basin
6 10 14 18 22 26 30
water, actions that increase this temperature
difference result to higher water productivity. Hour, [h]
Coupling solar still with storage tank is a very Fig. 9. Variation of production rate for the uncoupled and
good way to increase not only the basin water the coupled with storage tank solar still.
temperature but also the temperature difference
between basin water and cover, and this in a 24-h
period. It is seen that productivity of the solar
distillation system operating under constant saline still + tank
water temperature of 50°C is ahnost five times
more than productivity of the solar still working
alone. Fig. 9 shows a comparison between the
water production rate curves of the operation of
the solar still only and of the operation of the solar
distillation system (with 50°C water temperature)
for two representative periods. In the graphs one
can easily note the significant difference in the 6 10 14 18 22 26 30
production rates and also the independence of the
Hour, [h]
operation of the solar still-storage tank system on
solar radiation. This increase of output is justified Fig. 10. Variation of T,- T,for the uncoupled and the
in Fig. 10, which shows the curves of temperature coupled with storage tank solar still.
difference ( Tl, - 7’) for the two periods of graph
of Fig. 9. continuation of the distillation process in these
periods, as a result of the heat transfer from the
hotter tank water to the colder basin water.
8. Conclusions
From experimental results a characteristic
The behavior of a conventional greenhouse curve describing the production ofthe distillation
type solar still coupled with hot water storage tank system with respect to saline water temperature
is experimentally investigated through its is drawn, which gives important information that
operation under real conditions by keeping tank can be used to the design of such systems
water temperature constant in different levels. depending on the available heat sources.
It has been shown that this design leads to Water output rate of the distillation system has
higher distilled water output, due to higher basin been found to be rather constant for the whole
water temperatures as a result of hot storage tank 24-h period, eliminating thus the problem of water
water. It also ensures the operation of the system production rate dependency on climatic con-
during periods of low or no sunshine due to the ditions.
322 K. et al.
Lo~~apoulos Desalination 1.56 (2003) 3/5- 322

The behavior of a solar still coupled with heat Subscripts

storage tank has been found to be completely
d - Refers to day operation period
different than that ofthe solar still itself regarding
n - Refers to night operation period
dependence on solar radiation. Changes in solar
radiation do not practically affect production,
meaning that in the coupled still the hot water References
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[II J.J. Turnage and A.A. Husseiny, An assessment ofthe
the solar still serves only as condensation unit. market potential for solar powered desalination plants,
The proposed solar distillation system COII- Desalination, 39 (1981) 43-52.
terns finally a hybrid design from the usage point [21 A.F. Abdul-Fattah, Selection of solar desalination
of view and from the heat source point of view. It system for supply of water in remote arid zones,
can exploit not only solar energy incident on saline Desalination, 60 (1986) 165-l 89.
water but also any other heat source available [31 J.A. Eibling, SC. Talbert and G.O.G. Loef, Solar stills
for community use - digest of technology. Review
nearby, such as waste heat, conventional sources,
article, Solar Energy, 13 (I 971) 263-276.
electricity, solar collectors, solar pools, etc.
[41 M.A.S. Malik, G. Tiwari, A. Kumar and MS. Sodha,
Solar Distillation, Pergamon Press, 1982.
[51 E. Mathioulakis, K. Voropoulos and V. Belessiotis,
Symbols
Modelling and prediction of long-term performance
4 - Total day solar radiation, MJ/m’ of solar stills, Desalination, 122 (1999) 85-93.
- Amount of distilled water produced, kg [61 K. Voropoulos, E. Mathioulakis, V. Belessiotis, Ana-
KI,,,
- Average ambient air temperature, “C lytical simulation of energy behavior of solar stills
T1 and experimental validation, Desalination, 153 (2002)
7: - Average temperature of still glass cover,
87-94.
“C
?( - Average temperature of water in basin,
OC