Solar Water Distillation & Purifier

1. Group Members:
Anas Rehman (2014-ME-328) M. Bilal Arshad (2014-ME-330)
Umar Qasim (2014-ME-339) Khizar Musharaf (2014-ME-306)
SOLAR WATER
DISTILLATOR & PURIFIER

2. WHAT’S A SOLAR DISTILATOR?
DEFINATION:
A device that distils water by first evaporating it and then condensing
it in a separate system by using solar energy.
PRINCIPLE:
 As evaporation occurs at every temperature other then absolute zero which
is up till now not attainable therefore we can say that evaporation occurs at
every temperature.
 Rate of evaporation depends on the temperature, that is where Mr. Sun our
natures quite infinite source of energy comes into action.

3. WORKING:
 The Solar energy is used in
evaporating the water vapours.
 The water condenses at the glass
as glass is a cooler medium.
 The water condensed that the
glass then slides down and is
collected in a container as usable
water.
 The concentrated brine and
impure water then then drained.

4. DOES IT REALLY PURIFIES WATER?
This Process can be said to be exactly like how nature purifies water by
evaporating water in seas and then condensing them to rain. The rain
cycle is the exact process of what's happening here:
 The water is first filtered by passing through a cloth.
 Then it is allowed to evaporate by absorbing heat from the sun.
 The evaporated water then condensed in an other system by releasing
heat on the condenser.
 When water evaporates it leaves all the dust, bacteria, salts and
partials behinds and then this pure water partials condense at a
separate system hence separating any kind of impurity.

5. WHY ? WHY A SOLAR DISTILLATOR?
 Now a days with oil gasses increasing day by day & our atmosphere
messed up by the pollution it causes ,people have taken interest in green
energy. We can say that by marketing point of view, Solar products are
nowadays everyone’s desire. For example Solar panels, Solar rechargers
etc.
 In our own country about 44% of people intake impure water every day.
Imagine if they could be provided with Pure Water free of cost. If remote
areas could make rain water drink able.
 That is exactly where a solar distillator fits in.

6. ACCORDING TO AN ARTICLE BY DAWN
NEWS
 People in developing countries do not have access to safe drinking
water and in Pakistan; the vast majority of the country's 180 million
inhabitants do not have access to drinkable water.
 According to a report by the Leadership for Environment and
Development, by the year 2025, almost 52 nations comprising half the
world's population will have a severe shortage of potable water.
 In the next 25 years, some 3 billion people will be facing water
shortages.

7. IS IT EFFICIENT?
 The efficiency factor can be increased by using deflectors or increasing
size. This prototype can provide the daily intake of a person. The
health authorities commonly recommend eight 8-ounce glasses, which
equals about 2 litters, or half a gallon.
 The Efficiency can be easily increased using deflectors rather then
increasing the size of the whole system. However for a 2 x 4 𝑓𝑡2 of
glass we can produce about 4 litters of water. If we increase the size
that is 3x8 𝑓𝑡2
we can produce 12 litters of water.

8. WHAT WE DID?
 We coated the interior of the Purifier with the black silicon to absorb
maximum heat and to make our container water proof .
 We did a research and found that thin glass is a better condenser then
a thick one.
 We used Aluminium duct tape to help reduce any kind of leakage .
 We will place the prototype in a open area as a stiff breeze increases
the efficiency. It helps remove the heat from the glass making it a
good condenser.
 We used a Parabolic Trough as a deflector choice.

9. PARABOLIC TROUGH
DEFINATION:
A parabolic trough is a type of solar thermal energy collector. It is
constructed as a long parabolic mirror (usually coated silver or polished
aluminum) with a tube running its length at the focal point. Sunlight is
reflected by the mirror and concentrated on the tube.
ALLIGMENT:
The trough is usually aligned on a north-south axis, and rotated to
track the sun as it moves across the sky each day.
Alternatively the trough can be aligned on an east-west axis, this
reduces the overall efficiency of the collector, due to cosine loss, but only
requires the trough to be aligned with the change in seasons, avoiding the
need for tracking motors, hence, reducing the cost. This tracking method
works correctly in spring and in fall seasons.

10. How Heat is collected:
Heat transfer fluid (usually
oil) runs through the tube to
absorb the concentrated sunlight.
This increases the temperature of
the fluid to some 400°C.The
process is economical and, for
heating the pipe, thermal
efficiency ranges from 60-80%.

11. IT MUST BE COSTLY?
Since it is designed from easily available goods like:
o Wood structure
o Black silicon coating
o Aluminium duct tape
o Delivery pipes
o A thin glass
o Hot Glue
o A piece of cloth at the inlet to filter the water
o Finally a hot sunny day .
o The parabolic trough is optional.

12. HOW BIG IS THIS THING?
The Prototype we are design is about 100 x 60 𝑐𝑚2.
It is the size of a drawing desk.

13. CAN IT’S EFFICIENCY BE INCREASED?
o Roughly 1,368 watts of energy in the form of EM radiation from the Sun fall on an
area of one square meter. If we are to increase the size of the product the efficiency
will increase but with an rapid increase in cost.
o We can increase the efficiency by using solar collectors, they are way cheaper as we
are using mirrors to deflect light instead of increasing the whole size of the
apparatus.
o One can install the deflector later, whenever he desires to increase the output .