Abstract
This work investigates the effect of fixed bed characteristics on the performance a of pulsed flow humidification-dehumidification (HD) solar desalination unit. The results show that the unit performance has been improved by increasing the Raschig ring diameter and increasing the distance between layers up to a certain limit and by decreasing the bed height. The solar collector located in Jeddah Saudi Arabia was investigated under different conditions of feed water flow rate, tilt angle, and area of the collector. An equation for the collector efficiency and performance was derived. The power loss in the condenser was calculated to be 2.125 W. The results showed that the productivity of the unit within the range of data studied can be within the range from 1.3 to 1.91/m(2).h and the gain output ratio of the pulsed flow system to be within the range of 1.80-2.74.