Experimental study on air motion effect inside the solar still on still performance

Abstract A conventional solar still can be used for producing fresh water in arid areas, especially in a small scale production. The problem of the solar still is the low productivity, which is around 31/day in yearly average. Therefore, a modification in the design probably can enhance the performance of the system. The velocity of the desalinated water on the inner surface of the glass and also the velocity of the air attached to the saline water surface affect the amount of desalinated water. Hence, the effect of air motion inside the solar still is studied experimentally. For this purpose, a solar still of 3 m 2 area is constructed, with a modification in the conventional design, so that air is allowed to move inside the still, using a fan. The system performance is tested in outdoor testing and is evaluated by comparing it with the case without air motion. The results show that a significant increase in the desalinated water productivity is achieved when the air is allowed to move inside the solar still.