Numerical Analysis of Multi Effect Diffusion Solar Still with Measured Solar Radiation

Water scarcity is a significant challenge in many regions, particularly those with abundant solar energy. Solar distillation offers a sustainable solution, utilizing the region's plentiful sunlight to purify water and mitigate this crisis. One of the primary drawbacks of solar distillation is its relatively low production rate. Consequently, research is concentrated on identifying and enhancing the factors that can increase the efficiency and output of solar stills. The multiple-effect diffusion solar distiller (MED) stands out among solar desalination systems due to its straightforward design and compact size, while also offering higher production rates compared to traditional solar stills. It consists of a glass cover, plates, wick materials and saline water feeding tank. The glass cover and the plates are arranged in series closely spaced parallel. In this paper the effect of measured solar radiation over two different days during different season are used as energy supply into the current theoretical model to predict the effect of number of plates at these measured solar radiations. The results were obtained with tilted plates at an inclination of 32°. The numerical results gave a maximum (saturation plateau) daily production of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$7{\text{\ kg}}/{{{\bm{m}}}^2} - \mathbf{d}$</tex> at the lower solar radiation with 12 effects and <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$23{\text{\ kg}}/{{{\bm{m}}}^2} - \mathrm{d}$</tex> with 20 effects at the higher solar radiation. The gap distance between the plates of <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$10\ \mathbf{mm}$</tex> and 12 effects at the lower solar radiation while 20 effects at the higher solar radiation. The results showed a good agreement with other researchers. The maximum number of plates were depending on the solar radiation