Fluctuations and variations in the solar irradiation intensity, both regular and irregular, seriously damage the performance and effectiveness of conventional solar evaporation systems for salinity wastewater recovery. Furthermore, a novel flat-plate collector-evaporator integrated unit with thermal self-storage of salinity wastewater is designed and implemented in the solar air evaporating separation (AES) system. Comprehensive operating characteristics and performance investigations are conducted through the construction of the experimental system and the establishment of the multi-process coupling model. Results of experimental and simulation investigations indicate that this function of wastewater itself as heat-storage medium in the unit actually helps to counteract the reduced system performance and energy efficiency caused by fluctuations in solar irradiation, especially under overcast weathers, when average EE, GOR and eta sys of this system can still be maintained at 3.83 kg/kWh, 2.02, 59.78 %. What's more, this system supports effective 24-hour operation mode under variable environmental conditions, while maintaining superior wastewater recovery performance energy efficiency. Under variable conditions, including night time and cloudy weather, the average GOR, eta sys and eta ex,sys,daily for 24-hour operation can be up to 4.49, 62.2 % and 3.95 %, while the average OPEX is only 0.0089$/kg and the OVEX for 15-year service lifetime is only 0.0142 $/kg.
