A Fundamental Study of the Performance of a Multiple Effect Solar Still: (1st Report: Analysis of Indoor Experimental Results)

This paper deals with an experimental and analytical study of the fundamental performance of a multiple effect solar still. A multiple effect solar still is expected to have a higher performance for producing distilled water, in comparison with a conventional single effect solar still. The superiority is due to the fact that the multiple effect solar still can utilize most of the latent heat released from the condensing water vapor at the first stage, to heat and evaporate the saline water at the next stage. A laboratory scale electrically-heated still with a 0.1 m² evaporating area has been constructed, and performance tests have been carried out under indoor steady state conditions. The heat and mass transfer processes have been studied analytically, and the simulation method has been developed. The simulated results showed a satisfactory agreement with the measured ones, and the effects of various factors have been analyzed systematically.