Effect of water depth, Inlet water temperature, and fins on the productivity of a pyramid solar still – An experimental study

Abstract. Many approaches are using to improve the productivity of the pyramid solar still. Pyramid solar still provides a larger surface area than conventional types of solar still. In this research work, three sections have been evaluated. The first section has been studied by changing the water depth from 1 to 5 cm. In the second part of the experiment, increasing the inlet water temperature has been investigated, and finally, adding fins at the bottom of the still at certain inlet water depth has been achieved. The experimental results show that the still productivity could be influenced by the basin depth by up to 40.6 % when varying water depth from 1 to 5 cm, The freshwater production from the pyramid solar still was 1230.5, 1045, 998, 901, and 731 mL for the water depth from 1 to 5 cm, respectively. Moreover, it was found that productivity increased by 7.5 % when fins were used at the bottom of the pyramid solar still. In addition, the results showed that the still productivity could be influenced by varying inlet water temperature to 15.3 % and 21.2 % when varying the inlet water temperature from 30 °C to 40 °C and 50 °C, respectively.