https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-07161-8
Regular Article
Numerical investigation of compartment diameter and spacing on the thermal performance of a single-slope solar desalination unit using graphene-enhanced phase change material
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Ha’il, Ha’il City 81451, Saudi Arabia
2
College of Engineering, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
3
Advanced Technical College, University of Warith Al-Anbiyaa, Karbala, Iraq
4
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Cihan University-Erbil, Erbil, Iraq
5
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah 42351, Saudi Arabia
6
Department of Pathological Analyzes, Al Manara College for Medical Sciences, Maysan, Iraq
a
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Received:
5
August
2025
Accepted:
4
December
2025
Published online:
16
December
2025
Abstract
This study presents a numerical investigation of a single-slope solar still equipped with circular compartments containing graphene-enhanced phase change material (PCM). Four geometrical configurations were examined by varying the compartment diameter (30–70 mm) and spacing (100–200 mm) over a 13-h daytime cycle. The finite element method was used to simulate the transient thermal behavior of the system, including average basin temperature, PCM temperature, melt fraction, moisture concentration, and relative humidity. The results show that increasing the compartment diameter and spacing significantly improves the thermal performance of the still. Enlarging the diameter from 30 to 70 mm increased the average temperature by approximately 10–15%, while expanding the spacing from 100 to 200 mm enhanced it by an additional 5–7%. The highest enhancements were observed for the configuration with 70-mm compartments spaced 200 mm apart, which also exhibited the greatest increases in moisture concentration and relative humidity compared with the smallest geometry. Larger PCM volumes demonstrated delayed melting and retained a molten fraction into the evening, indicating a longer energy-storage duration.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
