Experimental Investigation of a solar system to produce fresh water from waste heat of photovoltaic module using Heat pipes

Among the aims of this study was the fabrication of a desalination system with the help of both photovoltaic module and thermosyphon heat pipe technologies. After the fabrication of the desalination system, various parameters such as the amount of produced freshwater by distilled vapor on the glass covering and basin side walls and the surface temperature of the photovoltaic, heat pipe and glass cover were studied. Analysis of the effect of water depth in the basin and also the effect of the presence of a mirror inside the reservoir were also performed and finally the amount of freshwater production was studied in passive state (scenario 2), active state (scenario 1) and active state with mirror (scenario 3). The results indicated that the optimum water depth was 5 cm and the maximum amount of product water was measured to be 0.292 kg⁄(m^2 h) at 2 p.m. The daily efficiency of the passive, active solar still and active solar still with mirror (scenarios 1, 2 and 3) were calculated. Furthermore, results showed that the installation of the mirror led to an average 10.0% and 12% increase in freshwater production and electric power, respectively. Finally, Economical analysis was performed on the proposed system.