21-10-2014, 09:45 AM
Abstracts: Providing access to safe drinking water becomes increasingly difficult on a worldwide level. The factor of marginalization and poverty it is vital to investigate towards decentralized and economical technologies which can be applied on a small-scale level. A promising approach is the technology of solar distillation for drinking water supply on domestic level, making use of the high regional potential of solar energy. It is proven that this technology is capable of removing nearly any type of contaminants from the raw water. The simplest and most durable form of implementation is the passive shallow-basin, single-slope solar still. The mayor drawback consists in its low daily output of drinking water (about two to five liters per square meter of insolated). A prototype unit of the passive solar still is built and its parameters of distillate output, energy efficiency and construction costs are determined, considering two different configurations. An additional analysis of the distillate quality is made. The first configuration of the prototype is mainly characterized by a low water level in the evaporation basin and raw water pre-heating, whereas the second configuration adds reflective side- and rear wall coating inside the distillation chamber. Furthermore, a prototype of an active solar still is designed, incorporating an additional energy source for higher process temperatures and therefore augmentation of the daily distillate yield. The emphasis in construction was put on the use of local, economical and recycled materials as far as possible, in order to lower the costs, attain a high reproducibility and to facilitate the possibility of autonomous self-construction in rural areas. The obtained results are very satisfactory in respect to the climatologically conditions of the project region and the typical efficiency and distillate output of the applied design. Construction of the proposed active unit is strongly recommended for the future, due to its capacity of providing a sufficient daily distillate output for the drinking water supply of a family of four members. The water was successfully liberated from contaminants and had an adequate quality for direct Development of a low-cost, high-efficiency solar distillation unit ingestion after the application of marble stones in the collection vessel. Economical feasibility is not yet given due to the use of specialized materials for evaporation basin and case.