Thermo‐Economic Assessment of Tracked‐Tilted Tubular Solar Still Equipped With Heat Pipe and Dual‐Line Focal Concentrators

Freshwater scarcity poses a global challenge, particularly in regions where conventional water resources are limited. Solar stills offer an economical, sustainable solution; however, their yield is limited. This study aims to evaluate a new tracking concentrated tilted tubular solar still equipped with a heat‐pipe TTSS‐HP. The novelty of the present work lies in four aspects: a novel trough U‐channel design that improves the interception of reflected solar radiation, a novel hexagonal glass cover design. A receiver formed of four‐sections, combined with a heat‐pipe and dual trough concentrators. Outdoor experiments are carried out in Baghdad, Iraq (33.27° N, 44.37° E), to test the water depth (55 mm, 65 mm) and still tilt angles (10°, 15°) impact on stills' yield and efficiency. The reported yield for TTSS‐HP was enhanced by 62.1% and 46.3% for water heights of 55 and 65 mm, respectively, when the still is tilted at 10° compared to the still with no heat pipe. While that for the still tilted at 15° was 41.6% and 29.3%. It has been found that increasing the water content of the still from 55 to 65 mm increases the freshwater yield by 14.9% for the still tilted at 10° and 21.3% for the still tilted at 15°. The optimum thermal efficiency was 21.6% for a maximum water depth of 65 mm and a still tilt angle of 15°. TTSS‐HP achieves the highest daily yield of 5.34 L at a 15° tilt angle and 65 mm water depth, while the still without a heat‐pipe HSS yields 3.31 L at a 10° tilt angle and a 65 mm water depth. It is concluded that TTSS‐HP with trough reflectors improved freshwater yield by 62.1% and thermal efficiency by 49.12% compared to the baseline HSS.