Performance Investigation of a Solar Desalination Unit Based on a Parabolic Dish Collector

Abstract

In this paper a solar desalination unit with a
parabolic dish collector has been designed and
characterized. Efficiency measurements of the collector
provided 0.69 for the intercept efficiency and 1.9 W/m2K for
the first order coefficient. The effect of the feed flow rate on
the distillate output flow rate has been studied. The thermal
efficiency of the total distillation process including
evaporation and condensation has been also determined for
different feed flow rates. The maximal measured efficiency
for five in series connected collectors achieved 50.2 %. The
designed unit can be combined with a solar still for direct
solar desalination. It can also be used as the first stage of a
(MEB) or (MSF) desalination plant.