الفهرس 
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Abstract
his work experimentally examines the influence of integrating a floating layer of a commercial sponge on the performance characteristics of a double slope single basintype solar still desalination unit (SSDU). In the experiments, several densities (16 to 35 kg/m3 ) and thicknesses (0 to 40 mm) of the sponge are tested at different depths (10 to 40 mm) of the saline water in the basin of the SSDU. Therefore, two identical SSDUs
are constructed; one of them is used as a reference (with 10 mm saline water depth) while a layer of a commercial sponge is floated in the basin of the second unit. This work is done during June-July 2019 on the two SSDUs simultaneously. The units
are mounted at Faculty of Engineering at Shoubra, Cairo, Egypt (30.1 N Latitude). The results report that integrating a floating sponge to the SSDU changes its operational
principles and consequently changes the temperatures profiles inside the still and its corresponding performance. In addition, the instantaneous temperature at various
locations in the SSDUs in addition to the instantaneous freshwater production and the thermal efficiency of the units exhibit the same trend of the solar radiation intensity.
Additionally, the temperatures in the modified still are higher than that in the reference unit, and their increasing growths with increasing the sponge density and thickness.
Besides, integrating a floating sponge of 16 kg/m3 density provides a freshwater productivity and thermal efficiency higher than that of the reference unit, and their increasing are reduced with increasing the sponge density. Moreover, the freshwater productivity and the SSDUs thermal efficiency are augmented with increasing the sponge thickness from 10 mm and 30 mm, and then they decrease at a sponge thickness of 40 mm. Furthermore, the temperatures in the SSDUs in addition to their corresponding freshwater productivity and thermal efficiency are reduced with increasing the salty water depth in the basin. Finally, the experiments reveal that the maximum SSDU freshwater production and daily thermal efficiency are recorded as 4.9 L/m2 .day and 37%, respectively, with using a floating sponge of density of 16 kg/m3 and thickness of 30 mm at saline water depth of 10 mm, with corresponding variation percentages of +58.1% and +55.3%, respectively, when compared with the reference unit (3.1 L/m2 .day fresh water productivity and 23.8% thermal efficiency).