Enhancing the solar still performance using reflectors and sliding-wick belt

This work presents a performance investigation of the rotating wick solar still (RWSS) under different operational and designable conditions. A black jute cloth belt was rotated vertically and horizontally inside the distiller. The effect of the sliding direction (clockwise and counter clockwise) of the wick belt on the performance of RWSS was studied. The performance of the RWSS was studied at various belt sliding speeds of 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 min(-1). In addition, mirrors were utilized externally and internally with RWSS to aid in concentrating more solar energy onto the system. A solar photovoltaic powered DC motor was used to rotate the belt. It was found that the freshwater distillate of the RWSS was higher than that obtained from the conventional distiller. The optimum performance of RWSS was obtained at 0.05 min(-1) and under up-down sliding direction. In addition, the freshwater productivity of RWSS was higher than that of the conventional solar still (CSS) by 300% and 260% with and without reflectors, respectively. The thermal efficiency was 82% and 35% for RWSS and CSS, respectively.