An experimental investigation on the performance of a new portable active bubble basin solar still

•Integrated solar still consists of a closed-loop pulsating heat pipe and a single spiral collector was studied.•The air bubble injectors and copper tube coil led to an excellent performance of the fabricated solar still.•The optimal water depth in the basin was found as the equal length of the condensation section of the CLPHP.•The rate of the production was obtained as 2.2 L/(m2.day) on a typical winter day.•The cost of the produced fresh water was estimated at 0.08 $/L. Water scarcity is a major problem encountered by a great many people. There is a need for responding by inexpensive and accessible freshwater demands due to the growing population and climate change. In this regard, the present study focuses on innovative design, fabrication, and testing of a solar still under specified outdoor and indoor conditions using a closed-loop pulsating heat pipe (CLPHP) to enhance the heat transfer and minimize the heat loss of vapor condensation. Also, the still consists of a single spiral collector (SSC) and a bubble injection system to increase the evaporation rate, as well as a copper tube coil (CTC) system to enhance water condensation. The daily productivity of the studied solar still was obtained 2236 mL/(m2 day). Results indicate that a measured water depth of 5 cm is optimal in the basin, which is the same as the length of the CLPHP condensation section. Besides, decreasing the number of air injectors leads to a reduction in productivity and system efficiency. According to our experiments, it is concluded that using each one of the CTC and SSC in different radiations could increase the hourly productivity by 10%. An average cost of $0.08 per liter of water was estimated over a useful life of 10 years, which is comparable with other types of solar stills.