Design and Fabrication of a Portable Solar Desalination Unit (DeSolE)

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.