Experimental and theoretical investigation on a hybrid LCPV/T solar still system

Seawater desalination has become one of the most promising means to address the growing scarcity of freshwater. In present paper, a hybrid low concentrating photovoltaic/thermal (LCPV/T) solar still system was designed and manufactured. It mainly consists of compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) with geometric concentration ratio 4, photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) module, tracking subsystem and solar still to produce electricity and freshwater simultaneously. Both mathematical model and experiments were established to reveal the effect of ambient factors such as solar radiation intensity and ambient temperature on the system performance. The influence of glass condenser slope angle, saline water layer thickness and temperature difference between glass condenser and saline water is studied. Moreover, the electrical property, thermal property, exergy efficiency and desalination performance of the system are analyzed in the paper. The study results showed that the electrical and thermal power, thermal efficiency, and freshwater yield increase with the increasing of solar radiation intensity. Moreover, the saline water temperature in the solar still and the temperature difference between the saline water and the glass condenser are major driving forces for the freshwater generation. The total freshwater yield is increased with the increasing of the glass condenser angle. During the daytime, the hybrid system with lower water layer thickness in the solar still can produce more freshwater. While at night, the system with higher water layer thickness has higher freshwater production.