SIMULATION STUDY OF THE THERMAL PERFORMANCE OF MSF DESALINATION UNIT OPERATING BY SOLAR VACUUM TUBE COLLECTORS

摘要

T he center for Solar Energy Research and Studiesrn(CSERS) has a good experience in operating andrnevaluating the thermal performance of small scale 5rnm3/day Multi-Stage Flashing (MSF) desalination plantrnconnected to solar pond according to the local weatherrnconditions of Tajoura area. However, new project hasrnbeen suggested to run the desalination plant with vacuumrntubes solar thermal collectors utilizing availablerntechnology and experience.rnIn this study an attempt were made to make the bestrnuse of readily available components to operate the MSFrndesalination unit with field of solar thermal collectors.rnSeveral configurations of collectors and tankrnarrangements are designed and examined through the usernof simulation software, TRNSYS. The study has shownrnthat the layout-3 (two 500 litres storage tanks each ofrnthem connected with 9x5 vacuum tube collectors) givesrnthe best performance with an annual solar fraction overrn77% at load temperature of 70 ℃ with flow rate of 2500rnlit/hr, and over 68% at load temperature of 80 ℃ forrnworking condition of 8 hours daily.rnThe study has also shown that Running therndesalination plant for 24 hours a day reduces the solarrnfraction of the solar collector field to 25%.