Abstract
Desalination of ground brackish water by solar powered systems is a practical and promising technology for producing potable water in the regions which suffers from water scarcity especially in arid areas. In remote and arid areas in Jordan with low infrastructure and without connection to the national grid, the abundant solar radiation intensity along the year, and the available brackish water resources are two favorable conditions for using the desalination solar technology to produce the fresh water, even for domestic use. Based on these conditions, a small-scale solar powered desalination system has been constructed and operated. The present study aims to improve the solar still performance, and to increase its productivity. So it is necessary to evaluate some important parameters affecting the system productivity. The effect of water depth in the basin on the water productivity was evaluated. In the same time, the effect of the deign and operational parameters on the solar desalination process were investigated. Different depths of brackish water (0.5cm, 2cm, 3cm, and 4cm) with TDS of 5000ppm were tested under the same climatic conditions in Mutah University. A six months study showed that the still productivity is strongly dependent on the climatic, design and operational conditions. The obtained results showed that the decreased water depth has a significant effect on the increased water productivity, while the performance characteristics showed that the water productivity was closely related to the incident solar radiation intensity. The balanced conditions between the increased evaporation rate and the rapid condensation ware due to the merit contribution of the carefully applied glass cover cooling. (C) 2007 Jordan Journal of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. All rights reserved