ملخص
Abstract
For this study, two identical single-effect of single basin solar stills are designed, fabricated, tested, and evaluated, where one of them is employed alone which is referred to as “passive still”, while the other is coupled to a flat plate solar collector introducing what so called the active still. Both are installed at the same site in Tripoli-Libya and they are oriented due to south. Measurement of various temperatures, solar intensities, humidity, wind speed and distillated water production are taken each hour for several days of August under various operating conditions. Two operational modes are considered; each of the passive and active stills is operating for the whole day. These tests were performed using seawater and water basin different depths. The water production of the active still is reported to be 6.6 L/m2.day which is higher than that of the passive still by 56 per cent approximately. The maximum daily efficiency is calculated to be 24 per cent approximately for the active still system while it is 14 per cent approximately for the passive still. Yet, the still thermal performance seems to have a complex function of geometrical, constructional, and operational conditions, site characteristics and layout details.