PERGAMON Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503

Performance of solar still under Jordanian climate

M.A. Hamdan, A.M. Musa, B.A. Jubran
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan
Received 22 December 1997

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental and theoretical work performed to ®nd the performance of
single, double and triple solar still located in Amman. The three stills were constructed using a
0.96  O.96 m2 base area, and the cover of each still is of a pyramid shape and inclined at 458. The
temperatures of the water, glass and ambient together with solar intensity, wind velocity and volume of
distilled water were recorded on an hourly basis during the daytime.
It was found that the distilled water output of the triple basin was 24% higher than that of the single
basin and 5.8% higher than the single basin one, while the double basin output was 20% higher than
that of the single basin output. Further, it was found that the maximum daily eciency was 44% for
the triple basin followed by 42% for the double basin, while it was 32% for the single basin. # 1998
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Solar still; Distilled water

1. Introduction

The demand for potable hygienic water is highly increased due to the growth of pollution,
even in urban areas. As a result of that and since the traditional sources of water is limited,
researchers focused their work on oceans and seas in order to obtain fresh potable water by
distillation of their water. The next step was to select a cheap source of the energy that is
required to evaporate water. Solar energy is an excellent one, since it is clean, cheap and
available in abundance at the site. Solar distillation has been in practice for a long time. The
earliest documented work is that of the Arab alchemists [1].
The theoretical prediction of the performance of the solar still has been in the literature for
some time [2±7], with the ®rst steady state model being suggested by Dunkle, which is outlined

0196-8904/99/$ - see front matter # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 9 6 - 8 9 0 4 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 3 4 - 4
496 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503

in Ref. [3]. This model was modi®ed slightly by Clark et al. [8]. This modi®cation was veri®ed
against experimental results obtained by Cooper [6].
Sodha et al. [9] analyzed the transient performance of a basin type mounted still
and obtained explicit expressions for the hourly variation of the glass cover temperature and
water in the basin and a distillate output. Their results were in good agreement with
experiment.
Sodha et al. [10] developed a transient model for the performance of a double basin solar
still, and it was validated experimentally. Further, they studied analytically the dependence of
the daily output of the distillate on wind velocity, ambient temperature and solar irradiation.
Tiwari et al. [11] concluded that, as the number of basins in a solar still increases, the amount
of distilled water is expected to increase.
In this study, the performance of a triple basin solar still, together with that of both single
and double basin stills, will be studied both experimentally and theoretically.

2. Theoretical analysis

The analysis in this work is fully discussed in Ref. [12]. However, in this paper, only a
summary of the analysis for a single basin solar still will be presented. The heat balance on the
basin water, glass cover and on the basin and cover assembly, respectively, are given by:
aw tH ˆ qb ‡ Cwb …dTw =dt† ‡ qe ‡ qr ‡ qc …1†
ÿ

qe ‡ qc ‡ qr ‡ ag H ˆ qga ‡ Cgs dTg =dt : …2†
ÿ

ag H ‡ aw tH ˆ qga ‡ qb ‡ Cwb …dTw =dt† ‡ Cgs dTg =dt : …3†

where the various heat ¯ux terms appearing in the above equations are given by:
ÿ

qr ˆ 0:9s T 4w ÿ T 4g …4†

 1=3
ÿ4
ÿ
pw ÿ pwg ÿ

qc ˆ 8:8410 Tw ÿ Tg ‡ Tw Tw ÿ Tg …5†
2:65pT ÿ pw
 
ÿ9 qc ÿ

qe ˆ 6:874210 ÿ
pw ÿ pwg L …6†
Tw ÿ Tg

qb ˆ hb …Tw ÿ Ta † …7†
   
4
qga ˆ Es s T 4g ÿ …Ta ÿ 11† ‡ 0:028…k=x†Re 0:8
Tg ÿ Ta : …8†

with qr, qc, qe, qb and q ga being the heat ¯ux from the water surface to the cover by radiation,
 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503 497

the heat ¯ux between the water surface and the cover by free convection, the heat ¯ux by
evaporation and condensation, the heat loss through the base and perimeter of the base and
the heat ¯ux from the cover to the surroundings, respectively.
The above equations were solved for the temperatures of the water basin and glass and for
the obtained rate of condensate. Further, the experimental steady state eciency of the still
was calculated from:
mhfg
Zˆ : …9†
I0 Ag Dt
where m, h fg, I0, Ag and D t is the mass condensate collected in a time interval, the heat of
vaporization of water, the hourly insulation ¯ux, the glass collecting area and the time interval,
respectively.

3. Experimental apparatus

Each of the solar stills used in this study consists of two main parts as shown in Fig. 1. The
®rst part, which is common for all stills used, is the water basin which is made of 1 mm
galvanized steel sheets fabricated in a box shape of 960  960  150 mm3. The bottom of the
box is made of 1.25 mm black steel. It acts as the absorber plate, such that it absorbs most of
the incident solar radiation, most of which will be conducted to the water. The basin of each
still is insulated in order to minimize heat losses.
The second part of the still is the condensation surface. In the single basin still, the outside
cover of the basin acts as the condensation surface, which consists of four identical triangular
pieces of 4 mm thick glass plates. These plates are joined to form a square pyramid with the
water basin being its base. Each glass plate is of 950 mm base and 850 mm side length. It is to
be noted that the condensate surface may be separated from the basin for interior inspection.
The joints between the glass plates and the basin were ®lled by surface silicon (caulk) to
eliminate both air in®ltration and water vapour escape. Triangular shaped channels were
attached to the lower edges of the glass by which the condensate water was meant to be
collected.
In the double still, in addition to the outside cover, the glass sheet that forms the upper
basin also acts as a condensation surface as water vapor condenses along its lower surface.
Further, in the triple basin, the two glass sheets forming the upper and middle basins act as
additional condensation surfaces. These sheets are installed at an angle large enough to ensure
that the condensate formed on them will ¯ow by gravity to the condensate troughs.
Copper constantun thermocouples were used to measure the temperatures of the water in the
basin of each still at several locations to ensure uniform temperature throughout the basin.
Also, the temperatures of the inside air and the inside surface of the glass plates were measured
for each still. The solar radiation was measured using a Kipp and Zonen 12C Pyranometer
which was positioned at 328 due south. The mass of condensate water in each still was
collected over a certain period of time from which the rate of condensation was measured. The
wind speed was measured in front of the still using an anemometer which is connected to a
microprocessor from which the wind speed was recorded.
498 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503

Fig. 1. (a) The lower basin of the three stills. (b) The square base pyramid outer cover for the three stills. (c) Cross
sectional view of the triple still.

4. Experimental procedure

The experimental procedure commenced by cleaning dust from the external glass covers of
each still and allowing it to warm for almost 2 h. Then, at hourly intervals, the outside
ambient, basin and inside glass surface temperatures were recorded, together with the incident
solar radiation. Having reached steady state conditions (usually 3±4 h), the condensate
production was measured every hour for the next 4 h. It was planned to study the e€ect of
wind on the stills performance, but unfortunately, the area in which the experimental work was
performed is characterized by a low wind speed. On the other hand, according to the work by
Test et al. [13], the induced wind by a fan is di€erent from the true one in their e€ects on
external heat transfer coecients.
 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503 499

Fig. 2. Hourly variation of both experimental and theoretical plate temperatures for the three stills.

5. Results and discussions

The hourly variation of the absorber plate temperature of each still is presented in Fig. 2. As
shown, the temperatures have the same trend, as they increase in the morning hours to
maximum values before they start to decrease late in the afternoon. This is due to the
increasing solar incident radiation in the morning and its decrease in the afternoon. Further, as
expected, the plate temperature of the single basin still has the highest values, followed by
those of the double basin and those of the triple one. This is caused by the variation in the
glass and water quantities in the still, as solar radiation attenuation increases with these
quantities, and hence, the absorbed solar energy decreases, leading to a drop in the plate
temperature. Finally, the agreement between the experimental and the predicted values is
acceptable.

Fig. 3. Hourly variation of water temperature (Tw) and glass temperature (Tg) for the single basin still.
500 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503

Fig. 4. Hourly variation of cover glass temperature (Tg), water temperature in the upper basin (T w1) and water
temperature in the lower basin of the double basin still (T w2).

The cover glass temperature and the basin water temperature for the single basin solar still
are shown in Fig. 3. As shown, during most of the day, the water temperature slightly exceeds
that of the cover, except during the ®rst hour. This is due to the fact that the water is being
heated by the plate in addition to the portion of solar energy that is being absorbed by the
water itself at certain absorption bands, while the cover transmits most of the solar radiation.
This behavior is also noticed in Figs 4 and 5 which show that the glass temperature in the
double basin still exceeds that of the water in both stills for almost the ®rst 3 h of operation.
Further, the water temperature in the lower basin is always higher than it is in the upper basin
due to the conducted heat transfer from the plate to the water. In Fig. 5, the cover temperature
remains above those of the water temperatures in the basins for most of the operation period,

Fig. 5. Hourly variation of cover glass temperature (Tg), water temperature in the upper basin (T w1), water
temperature in the middle basin (T w2) and water temperature in the lower basin of the triple basin still (T w3).
 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503 501

Fig. 6. Hourly variation of both experimental and theoretical distilled water yield by the three stills.

until late in the afternoon. Also, it may be noticed, as expected, that the water temperature in
the lower basin has higher values than those in both the middle and the upper basins.
The hourly amount of distilled water in each basin is shown in Fig. 6. Initially, the
condensate water quantities are almost the same, but with time, the single still output increases
at a higher rate than that produced by both the double and triple stills with the former
product being higher than the latter one. However, the output product of the single still starts
to decrease in the afternoon, while those of the other two stills are still increasing. At 17:00,
the double still produces more distilled water than the single still, and it is expected that, at a
later time, the triple basin will produce the highest amount of distilled water followed by the
double and then by the single still. It is to be noted that the daily output product collected
indicates that the triple product was the maximum with a value of 4896 (g/m2) followed by

Fig. 7. Theoretical and experimental hourly eciency of the three stills.

502 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503

Fig. 8. Hourly ambient temperature (Ta) and hourly solar intensity (Is).

that of the double and, ®nally, by the single basin with values of 4610 and 3693 (g/m2),
respectively. Finally, it may be noticed that there is satisfactory agreement between the
experimental and predicted values for all the basins.
The hourly variation of each still eciency is shown in Fig. 7 which indicates that the
eciency of each still increases to a maximum value late in the afternoon. This is due to the
fact that, although the rate of mass condensate decreases, the hourly solar ¯ux decreases at a
higher rate, leading to an increase in the eciency. However, it is expected that the eciency
of each still will start to decrease at later hours as the mass rate of condensate decreases, as
shown in Fig. 6. As shown, during the early hours of operation, the single still has the
maximum hourly eciency followed by the double basin, and the least eciency is that of the
triple still. However, during the late hours, the hourly eciency of the triple basin exceeds
those of both stills, with that of the single still being a minimum value. It is to be noted that
the triple still has a maximum daily eciency of 44%, and those of the double and single stills
are 42% and 32%, respectively. Finally, the agreement between the obtained values of the
eciencies and the predicted ones is satisfactory.
The hourly variation of the incident solar intensity and the ambient temperature during the
day on which the presented results were obtained are shown in Fig. 8. As may be seen, the
solar intensity increases to a maximum value at 13:00 before it starts to decrease with time.
Similarly, the ambient temperature increases to a maximum value at the hour 14:00 before it
starts to decrease in the afternoon.

6. Conclusions

From this study, it may be concluded that the triple solar still is of maximum daily eciency
followed by the double still, with the single still of the least eciency. Further, it may be
concluded that solar energy may be utilized eciently in obtaining distilled water in Jordan at
low cost.
 M.A. Hamdan et al. / Energy Conversion & Management 40 (1999) 495±503 503

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