DOI

https://10.5004/dwt.2019.24678

Abstract

Traditional seawater desalination is an energy-intensive industry and desalination with new clean renewable energy sources will become an important developing direction. Especially on ships and in areas where there are serious fresh water or power shortage problems, the implement of seawater desalination with solar energy is of far-reaching practical significance. Based on the enhanced heat transfer mechanism of the horizontal tube falling film evaporator, and the internal and external fin tube condenser, a set of miniature low-temperature single-effect solar seawater desalination device was developed. The designed parameters of the main heat transfer elements of the seawater desalination system were obtained by mathematical simulation and the simulation experiment was carried out by the simulated solar energy using electric heating tank. In the experiment, the transient and steady-state performance of the system is tested The water producing rate, coefficients of the falling film horizontal tube performance and coefficients of the condensing pipe performance under different flow and temperature conditions are given, which provides an effective method for the design of the miniature low-temperature solar desalination device. The results show that the system has a high water producing rate and fresh water output efficiency under steady-state conditions through a series of enhanced heat transfer measures. At present, the water producing rate can reach 1.6 L/h when the heating water temperature is 75°C–85°C, and the stable water producing rate can reach 8 L/h. Relevant experimental data provide data support for the design of small desalination plants.