Parabolic Solar Water Distillation

Joel Newmeyer

Motivation About 1 billion people do not have access to potable

water Make use of the most abundant naturally replenished

energy source Parabolic reflective troughs are fundamentally simple

and effective devices for concentrating and collecting solar energy

Acknowledgements

Sponsor: Akasha Kaur KhalsaAdvisor: Dr. Fletcher MillerSpecial Thanks: Dr. Kee Moon

Overall Goal Efficiently supply at least 2 gallons of potable water per day Create a product that will be relatively easy to establish and operate Purify water from any source Inexpensive Provide clean useful drinking water without interfacing with electricity

System Overview1. Contaminated water enters an absorber tube (Pyrex glass

cover, copper heat pipe) oriented at the focus of a parabolic reflective trough.

2. Heated water exits absorber tube and enters distiller via spray nozzle to increase surface area per droplet to enhance evaporation.

3. Remaining hot water pools and distiller then allows for further evaporation.

4. Vapor is condensed on a cooled condensing surface via heat exchanger oriented on the top of the distiller

1. Heat exchanger uses cool contaminated water flow to cool the condensing surface and preheat the incoming water

5. Condensed potable water drains out of distiller via gravity into a collection tube

Determining Distiller Geometry

Distiller Sectional ViewAssembly

Mark Branner Andrew Stonebraker

TEAM MEMBERS

Conclusion

• 2.5 ft2 base cross section • 0.75 ft high condensing surface

Front view Right view

Distiller inlets/outlets

After a semester of research and calculations, we have settled on a final design of a solar still, a solar still that will maximize potable water production. Some of our future project goals include:

• Refinement and consistency improvements.• i.e. getting a constant film flow of water down the coned heat

transfer surface.• Spray nozzle at heat exchanger inlet.• Fabric material or grooves to distribute the water over

the surface.• Fabrication and assembly of our design.• Prototype testing/data acquisition.