Introduction and Background

Motivation and Importance

Currently, most of the world's electricity is
generated by burning fossil fuels, such as coal,
oil and gas. However, these fuels, when burned,
produce toxic emissions that decrease our air
quality and may cause global warming as well.
Solar energy is an excellent alternative energy
source, since it is waste-free and uses the
readily available energy of the sun.
About 70% of the planet is covered in water, yet of all of that, only around 2% is fresh water, and
of that 2%, about 1.6% is locked up in polar ice caps and glaciers. So of all of the earths water,
98% is saltwater, 1.6% is polar ice caps and glaciers, and 0.4% is drinkable water from
underground wells or rivers and streams. And despite the amazing amount of technological
progress and advancement that the current world we live in has undergone, roughly 1 billion
people, or 14.7% of the earths population, still do not have access to clean, safe drinkable water.
Clearly, having affordable potable water readily available to everyone is an important and
pressing issue facing the world today.


Abstract
Fortunately there is a solution to these problems. It is a technology that is not only capable of
removing a very wide variety of contaminants in just one step, but is simple, cost-effective, and
environmentally friendly. That is use of solar energy.


Purpose
Keeping these things in mind, we have devised a model which will convert the dirty/saline water into
pure/potable water using the renewable source of energy (i.e. solar energy) and lead to generation of
electricity at the same time.
The results are obtained by evaporation of the dirty/saline water and fetching it out as pure/drinkable
water.
The purpose of this project is to design a water distillation system that can purify water from
nearly any source, a system that is relatively cheap, portable, and depends only on renewable
solar energy. From the results of project calculations a truthful estimate was made to prototype
the most effective geometries of the distiller and concentration system, one that will maximize
evaporation/condensation and re capture waste heat to minimize thermal losses.


About Solar Energy

The sun radiates the energy uniformly in all direction in the form of electromagnetic waves. When
absorbed by body, it increases its temperature.
It is not a new process, but it has not received the attention that it deserves. Perhaps this is because
it is such a low-tech and flexible solution to water problems. Nearly anyone is capable of building a
still and providing themselves with completely pure water from very questionable sources. 3.8x1024
joules of solar radiation is absorbed by earth and atmosphere per year. Solar power where sun hits
atmosphere is 1017 watts and the total demand is 1013 watts. Therefore, the sun gives us 1000
times more power than we need. If we can use 5% of this energy, it will be 50 times what the world
will require. The energy radiated by the sun on a bright sunny day is 4 to 7 KWh per m2


Needs and Specifications
Our project centers on converting the roughly 99.6% of water that is, in its natural form,
undrinkable, into clean and usable water.
After researching and investigation, we outlined our needs to be the following:
Efficiently produce at 2 gallons of potable water per day minimum
Able to purify water from virtually any source, included the ocean
Relatively inexpensive to remain accessible to a wide range of audiences
Easy to use interface
Intuitive setup and operation
Provide clean useful drinking water without the need for an external energy source
Reasonably compact and portable

Our aim is to accomplish this goal by utilizing and converting the incoming radioactive power of
the sun's rays to heat and distill dirty and undrinkable water, converting it into clean drinkable
water and use the energy captured in steam to rotate a turbine that helps us generate electricity.