Analysis of partially evacuated solar still system under Jordan climate

Abstract

The pressing need for reducing the global warming effects from the emission of greenhouse gases necessitates the use of renewable energy where possible. Solar distillers are devices with a promising future. In this work, an experimental setup (solar distiller) was constructed and equipped with a mirror, basin, glass cover, compressor, sensors and controllers to study the partial evacuation effects on different solar distillation parameters and the production capacity under the Jordanian climate. The test rig was tested for three different water levels (1, 2 and 3 cm), and four pressure values (1, 0.9, 0.8 and 0.7 atm) under the Jordanian climate. The detailed experimental results strongly correlate with the results previously published in literature. The modifications performed on the system doubled the previously attained efficiency. These improvements in the solar distiller will favor the application of the vacuum pressure principle in many different applications, such as the water extraction from the atmospheric air.