Abstract:
Water scarcity is a leading issue globally, due to the exponential increase in the global
population. During the past 40 years, the population of the world has doubled due to which the
water demand is said to have quadrupled. Currently, the water scarcity, especially the drinking
water scarcity is adverse globally, let alone the third world countries.
Due to the existing technologies being either expensive or highly inefficient in producing
results, we decided to design a solar desalination prototype that has an optimum efficiency to
cater an average family, while being the cheapest option in market. To make it possible, we
utilized the design of solar stills, along with the use of enhancing materials to increase
efficiency of the output water.
DeSolE’s main aim is to provide cheap and efficient water supply to water scarcity areas,
especially coastal areas where abundant source of water is available but there is no way to clean
it. The project’s will not only deal with building the prototype but also its’ testing and
fabrication. The project initiated with the testing of synthesized water, and then testing it with
different parameters, such as TDS, Conductivity, Hardness, Chlorides, and pH. The work was
done on design optimization by simulating the solar still and energy flows of the solar still to
determine dimensions of the still. After dimensions were determined, the construction of the
prototype was performed, and the reflector sheet was added to enhance the reflective properties
and increasing the evaporation rate. To assist the use of reflectors, separators were used in
between the evaporator and condenser and added a fan as a barrier to circulate the air containing
vapors to allow increased vapors to move towards the cool condenser area. The prototype was
designed in this way, after which testing were started on it. Different input water quantities,
along with the use of surface area enhancing Jute Ropes were observed. The input water was
considered as the independent quantity and the optimum level of water input to get the best
output was found, considering the solar radiation cannot be changed or controlled in any way.
