Final Three Years' Progress on Study and Field Evaluation of Solar Sea Water Stills

摘要

During the conduct of the project the following solar stills were evaluated at the Florida station: Glass-covered basin 1; tilted wick; Vertical envelope; Inflated plastic tube; Inflated covered basin; Materials evaluation basin; and a Tilted tray. The blass-covered basin stills were the most satisfactory of all those tested, and appear to be practical for application in some areas of the world. An economic study indicated that, under some conditions solar stills would produce water at lower cost than other types of conversion processes, in quantities of 50,000 gallons per day or less. Recent developments in plastic technology show promise of making the air-inflated plastic-covered stills even more attractive economically than the glass-covered units, now considered the most practical. Data obtained from an electrically heated laboratory still clarified the influence of design and operating variables of a basin still, and permitted accurate prediction of performance. (Author)