Experimental and Numerical Study on the Integrated Solar Chimney System with Solar Still for Water Desalination

Abstract

The integrated solar chimney and solar still system offers a promising approach for simultaneous water and electricity production. However, there have been only few experimental studies conducted on this combined design. In this regard, a solar chimney with 12 m height and 3.4 m collector diameter is constructed and accompanied with solar stills, installed inside the collector. The maximum velocity at the chimney's inlet for the combined system reaches near 2 m s−1, while it is 0.3 m s−1 smaller than the conventional arrangement. The maximum water production is 861 g h−1 which is attained in the evening hours. In the normal solar chimney without solar stills, air temperature inside the collector reaches its peak at 64 °C when solar radiation is maximum. While in the integrated system, this value is 59 °C which reaches with 2 h delay due to water heat storage. In addition, it is found that the effect of height of vapor space inside the basin can be negligible while the lower water depth in the basin provides higher water production.