Numerical analysis of direct distillation solar still coupled with a semitransparent photovoltaic module

Clean electrical energy and freshwater are two basic human needs that can be met by using solar energy properly. In this article, the goal is to produce electricity and freshwater simultaneously by installing a solar still coupled with a semi-transparent solar module. The coupled solar system was simulated in ANSYS Workbench 2022 software environment.To check the water yield, the system was simulated at different brackish water temperatures of 60 , 70 , and 80 and different wind speeds of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 m/s. Also, ten scenarios were defined and simulated according to radiation intensity and brackish water temperature. The results showed that the increase in brackish water temperature and the wind speed increased the amount of freshwater production, and the effect of brackish water temperature was greater compared to wind speed. By increasing the brackish water temperature from 60 to 70 and from 70 to 80 , the average water yield increment for the wind speed of 3 m/s is 64% and 120%, respectively. Also, by increasing the wind speed from 1 m/s to 5 m/s at 70 , the output power of the system increases by 10.53%. The simulation results in ten different scenarios showed that the coupled solar system was more efficient than the independent solar system in eight cases. According to the results of this research, it is suggested that the southern regions of the country with high radiation intensity and high wind speed should be considered for installing the coupled solar system.