Optimal configuration of a semi-corrugated basin with inverted solar concentrator for performance augmentation of hemispherical shaped solar distiller: a comparative experimental investigation

This study aims to develop a novel design of hemispheric distillers that can achieve the highest performance improvement. To implement this idea, a semi-corrugated absorber basin combined with an inverted solar collector was utilized in order to augment the vaporization rates within the hemispheric distillation basin and thus improve the freshwater yield. The effects of three different pitch distances of the semi-corrugated basin (5, 8, and 12 cm) were investigated to figure out the finest pitch that maximizes the distillation yield of hemispheric distillation systems. To achieve these experimentally, two hemispherical distillers were designed, constructed, and examined, the first is a conventional hemispherical distiller (CHSD) and the second is the developed hemispherical distiller with a semi-corrugated absorber combined with an inverted solar collector (DHSDSCA&ISC). Besides, three basins with a semi-corrugated absorber (with various pitches of 5, 8, and 12 cm) were designed and implemented for the developed hemispherical distiller. The practical tests were conducted over three consecutive days so that each case of DHSD-SCA&ISC was compared with CHSD. The results presented that the mutual utilization of the inverted solar collector and semi-corrugated basin with a pitch distance of 5.0 cm represents the optimized configuration in the distiller basin that yields the maximum freshwater product. At this case, the distilled product reached 9.54 L/m²·d with an improvement percentage of 92.73% as compared to CHSD. Moreover, the daily energetic efficiency reached 77.29% with an enhancement percentage rate of 91.45% as compared to CHSD. In addition, the economic assessment findings indicated that the price per 1.0 L of distilled water was reduced by 36.0% compared to the CHSD.