Mechanical Engineering Technology Department 

 

Central Washington 

University

​

Solar Powered Seawater Distiller.

Abstract

 

One out of nine people do not have access to clean water due to poverty and limited access to

electricity. Drinking unclean water can cause harm ranging from a minor disease to death

depending on the quality of the water. Luckily, most of the regions that have no access to clean

water have unused sunlight. The purpose of this project is to utilize solar energy to distill

seawater and operate at a low to no cost.

The project will be a condenser connected to a pipe and a reflector that use sunlight to heat

seawater near boiling point. If the seawater reaches a temperature of 95 degrees Celsius, a

thermistor should deliver the data to a microcontroller connected to a solar panel; the

microcontroller will allow a constant supply of one volt for 180 seconds to a 12 DC pump. The

pump will send the heated water from the heating pipe to the condenser. The water will be

forced to take multiple paths to facilitate evaporation. After evaporation occurs, most of the

salt will be separated and collected at the bottom of the condenser and the vapor will condense

at the stainless-steel conic shaped top part, then it will be distilled to a small collector that is

connected to a facet and ready to drink.

The project has not been tested but the expected result is that it would condense 36ml/min. It

should

function with an outside temperature ranging from 30C to 60C. The distilled water

quality is expected be average distilled water quality which is 14 mg of sodium per cup.