Effects of tracking modes on the performance of a solar MED plant

Solar energy as an energy resource is vastly available and its applications are growing. Due to lack of fresh water resources, sea water desalination is known as a suitable solution all over the world. This paper investigates the effects of quintuple tracking modes on the fresh water production of a solar MED plant, for the first day of seasons known as characteristic days. Solar field and MED system under consideration are modeled using thermodynamic and heat transfer correlations. The system model has been validated according to experimental data. Results show that, using tracking systems has been very effective, for instance, at the winter solstice the solar MED plant with full tracking system, polar axis tracking system, N-S tracking system, and E-W tracking system respectively produce 341%, 291%, 135% and 246% more fresh water in comparison with a plant using only fixed collectors. It is also found that, polar axis mode has better performance in the first day of spring and fall. Moreover, N-S mode demonstrates its best performance in the first day of summer while both polar axis and E-W modes obtain their best performance in the first day of winter.