In recent years, the use of solar energy has been growing exponentially and applied in a wider range of applications; one of the important applications for using solar energy is water desalination. The current work investigates the proof of concept experimental setup for a novel solar multi-effect distillation (MED) using alternate storage tanks. The experimental setup consists of a MED unit, two thermal storage tanks, and a solar collector. One storage tank is used as a charging tank while the other tank is used as a discharging tank. This unique dual-tank system stores the thermal energy to be used later in the MED unit, which improves the control of the water mass flow rate and water temperature throughout the MED process. The peak temperature achieved every day in the charging tank determines the MED production capacity. This system is designed for the tanks to alternate roles every 24 hours. The testing of this design was carried out during May 2019 in Saudi Arabia. The experimental results prove the novel concept design to work efficiently providing an average production rate of about 21 kg/day with total solar collector area of 2.7 m² and average daily performance ratio of 2.5.

近年来，太阳能的使用呈指数增长，并被广泛应用。使用太阳能的重要应用之一是水脱盐。目前的工作是研究使用备用储罐的新型太阳能多效蒸馏（MED）的概念验证实验设置。实验装置包括一个MED单元，两个储热罐和一个太阳能收集器。一个储罐用作填充罐，另一个储罐用作排放罐。这种独特的双水箱系统将热能存储起来，稍后将在MED单元中使用，从而改善了整个MED过程中水质量流量和水温的控制。充电罐中每天达到的峰值温度决定了MED的生产能力。该系统旨在使坦克每24小时轮换一次角色。该设计的测试于2019年5月在沙特阿拉伯进行。实验结果证明了新颖的概念设计可以有效地工作，平均生产率约为21千克/天，太阳能集热器总面积为2.7 m²，平均每日绩效比率为2.5。