A prototype desalination system using solar energy and heat pipe technology

Abstract

The water desalination process needs large quantities of energy, either directly from fossil fuel or electricity from the national grid. However, these sources of energy significantly contribute to problems such as global warming in addition to creating a drain on the economy, due to their high cost. This dissertation is a description of the research undertaken with the aim of producing a water desalination prototype; a novel approach that was designed using state-of-the-art solar water heating equipment, incorporating the technologies of evacuated tubes and heat pipes. During the execution of the project, various modifications to the original commercially-available solar water heating system were attempted, each aimed at increasing the production of pure water. Finally, the system proved capable of producing a reasonable amount of pure water after twelve lengthy indoor experiments conducted in a laboratory in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Bellville Campus, Cape Town, South Africa. Each experiment lasted five days on the basis of seven hours of exposure to an average amount of simulated solar radiation, followed by seventeen hours daily of inactivity and partial cooling down of the system.