Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights

This study presents a comprehensive year-long evaluation of a hybrid solar desalination and water heating system, employing parabolic trough collectors enhanced with single- and duble-pass twisted-tape absorber tubes. The investigation focuses on optimizing geometric configurations, heat transfer fl...

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Main Authors: Hossein Akhbari, Shahab Eslami, Aslan Gholami
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-09-01
Series:Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25008615
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author Hossein Akhbari
Shahab Eslami
Aslan Gholami
author_facet Hossein Akhbari
Shahab Eslami
Aslan Gholami
author_sort Hossein Akhbari
collection DOAJ
description This study presents a comprehensive year-long evaluation of a hybrid solar desalination and water heating system, employing parabolic trough collectors enhanced with single- and duble-pass twisted-tape absorber tubes. The investigation focuses on optimizing geometric configurations, heat transfer fluids, and climatic adaptations to maximize thermal and desalination efficiencies. Phase I experiments compared eight absorber tube setups, revealing that the double-tube configuration with an 8:1 twist ratio achieved a 23.4 % increase in thermal efficiency compared to the baseline. Phase II introduced high-stability oil as the heat transfer fluid, recording a significant improvement in temperature retention. The double-tube twisted tape design (II-8) demonstrated a temperature difference of 78.1 °C, nearly doubling the performance of water (38.3 °C) under similar conditions, yielding an overall enhancement of approximately 103.9 %. Annual performance evaluation (Phase III) highlighted the system's peak summer desalination capacity, producing 3.5 L/day of fresh water and maintaining hot water output at an average of 35 °C. Notably, the system exhibited remarkable adaptability, consistently delivering reliable performance across seasonal extremes. By tackling energy and water challenges simultaneously, the study provides critical insights for scaling sustainable solutions, particularly in arid regions.
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spelling doaj-art-bd0134d5bc04490abcfc9527e9b8cff12025-08-20T02:37:38ZengElsevierCase Studies in Thermal Engineering2214-157X2025-09-017310660110.1016/j.csite.2025.106601Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insightsHossein Akhbari0Shahab Eslami1Aslan Gholami2Department of Renewable Energies, Shahid Beheshti University, IranFaculty of New Sciences and Technologies, University of Tehran, Tehran, IranDepartment of Renewable Energies, Shahid Beheshti University, Iran; Corresponding author.This study presents a comprehensive year-long evaluation of a hybrid solar desalination and water heating system, employing parabolic trough collectors enhanced with single- and duble-pass twisted-tape absorber tubes. The investigation focuses on optimizing geometric configurations, heat transfer fluids, and climatic adaptations to maximize thermal and desalination efficiencies. Phase I experiments compared eight absorber tube setups, revealing that the double-tube configuration with an 8:1 twist ratio achieved a 23.4 % increase in thermal efficiency compared to the baseline. Phase II introduced high-stability oil as the heat transfer fluid, recording a significant improvement in temperature retention. The double-tube twisted tape design (II-8) demonstrated a temperature difference of 78.1 °C, nearly doubling the performance of water (38.3 °C) under similar conditions, yielding an overall enhancement of approximately 103.9 %. Annual performance evaluation (Phase III) highlighted the system's peak summer desalination capacity, producing 3.5 L/day of fresh water and maintaining hot water output at an average of 35 °C. Notably, the system exhibited remarkable adaptability, consistently delivering reliable performance across seasonal extremes. By tackling energy and water challenges simultaneously, the study provides critical insights for scaling sustainable solutions, particularly in arid regions.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25008615Parabolic trough colectorHeat transfer fluidsTwisted tapeThermal performance analysisDesalination
spellingShingle Hossein Akhbari
Shahab Eslami
Aslan Gholami
Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
Case Studies in Thermal Engineering
Parabolic trough colector
Heat transfer fluids
Twisted tape
Thermal performance analysis
Desalination
title Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
title_full Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
title_fullStr Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
title_full_unstemmed Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
title_short Long-term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination Systems: Heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
title_sort long term performance evaluation of hybrid solar thermal and desalination systems heat transfer fluids and advanced configurations insights
topic Parabolic trough colector
Heat transfer fluids
Twisted tape
Thermal performance analysis
Desalination
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214157X25008615
work_keys_str_mv AT hosseinakhbari longtermperformanceevaluationofhybridsolarthermalanddesalinationsystemsheattransferfluidsandadvancedconfigurationsinsights
AT shahabeslami longtermperformanceevaluationofhybridsolarthermalanddesalinationsystemsheattransferfluidsandadvancedconfigurationsinsights
AT aslangholami longtermperformanceevaluationofhybridsolarthermalanddesalinationsystemsheattransferfluidsandadvancedconfigurationsinsights