Performance of solar still under Jordanian climate

This paper describes an experimental and theoretical work performed to find the performance of single, double and triple solar still located in Amman. The three stills were constructed using a 0.96 x 0.96 m(2) base area, and the cover of each still is of a pyramid shape and inclined at 45 degrees. The temperatures of the water, glass and ambient together with solar intensity, wind velocity and volume of distilled water were recorded on an hourly basis during the daytime. It was found that the distilled water output of the triple basin was 24% higher than that of the single basin and 5.8% higher than the single basin one, while the double basin output was 20% higher than that of the single basin output. Further, it was found that the maximum daily efficiency was 44% for the triple basin followed by 42% for the double basin, while it was 32% for the single basin. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.