Performance study of a solar still desalination system coupled with solar air heater

The main aim of the present study is to enhance the output of the solar distiller using hot air pro-duced from the solar air heater (SAH). In this manuscript, two solar stills [conventional solar still (CSS) and CSS-SAH] were fabricated and researched. The performance of the CSS-SAH was exper-imentally examined at three different water depths (Wd) and compared with the CSS. The SAH act as a water heating element, the heat extracted from the SAH was sent to the basin water of the CSS. The experimental results showed that the maximum daily yield of 4.7 kg/m2 was achieved for the CSS-SAH at a minimum Wd. The CSS-SAH has produced 0.34 to 1.8 kg higher yield than the CSS. The study also has shown that CSS-SAH produced 38.3% higher yield than the CSS. The payback period of the CSS, CSS-SAH at 1.5 cm Wd, CSS-SAH at 3 cm Wd, and CSS-SAH at 4.5 cm Wd is 46, 40, 47, and 58 ds, respectively.