Abstract:
The aim of this work is the study of the productivity of an active solar still with a single basin and a simple slope, provided with two reflectors internal and external, coupled with a photovoltaic/thermal solar heater system.
The simulation input parameters include the climatic conditions concerning the site Ksar Challala (35.10 N, 2.19 E, Altitude: 800 m) in Algeria, for three chosen days each one by season (08/01/2012, 24/04/2012 and 18/07/2012).
This study is carried out using a mathematical model to simulate the thermal and electrical behavior of the three proposed systems (hybrid collector PV / T, improved active solar still, photovoltaic / thermal solar water heater) and the global system. A parametric study is conducted to highlight the evolution of the energetical performance of each system and the overall system.
The simulation results of the hybrid PV/Thermal collector show clearly the direct impact of different parameters, such as solar radiation and the water mass flow rate on the total efficiency of the collector.
Furthermore, it appears that adding reflectors to the solar still improves the daily production during the winter period significantly. There is an increase in production of about 150.23 % in winter, from 47.63 % in spring and 31.45 % in the summer.
Furthermore, the coupling of the solar still with a thermal storage tank also led to an increase in the thermal productivity approximately equal to 8.17 %, 30.20 % and 36.17 % respectively for winter, spring and summer.
For the solar still coupled with a thermal / solar storage tank, the increase in the productivity is much more important. It is of the order of 41.65 % in winter and reaches high values of 160.67% and 149.97 % in spring and summer, respectively.
The effect the of reflectors on increasing the daily production of the distillate is considerable during the winter compared to spring and summer, against the effect of the storage tank is much more important in spring and summer than in the winter.
