Productivity enhancement of a single basin and single slope solar still coupled with various basin materials

Abstract

A B S T R A C TIn today's world, access to distilled water has become very constrained by the problem of growing demand. To solve the distilled water problem, a solar still with different arrangements of basin materials has been made at low cost. Evaporation and condensation are the basic principles of a solar still; the rate of evaporation is directly proportional to the temperature of the basin. The main technique to improve the basin temperature is to have the basin coupled with a helical copper coil, aluminium fins, a long hollow stainless steel tube and an iron plate. The experimental validation determines the increased nocturnal production in the solar stills. The performance of the conventional solar stills is compared with that of the basin integrated solar still. The solar still with various basin materials arranged in a lengthwise direction was more effective, compared with the one arranged breadthwise. The solar still is designed in such a way that the helical spherical coil, aluminium fins, stainless steel tube and an iron plate can fit into the same basin below 2 cm thickness, and decrease the preheating time.

Asymmetrical Solar Still with Various Basin Materials

“…Experimental setup consists of basin (area = 1 m 2 , and slope of 13 ○ ), the air tight glass cover inclination [1,3] (transparent cover: area = 1.1 m 2 , thickness =5mm) is taken as condensation surface hence it enhance the drop wise condensation, the valve and the flexible hoses. Fig.…”

“…The total cost of the galvanized iron (GI)solar still C is equal to the sum of the fixed cost and the variable cost. Assuming that the variable cost V equals 0.3 F per year [3] and the expected still life is 10 years, then C = 100 + (0.3 × 100 × 10) = 400 $. The minimum average productivity of the solar still is 1.00 l/day from the experimental result.…”

“…The glass basin solar still is free from corrosion and rust which increases the lifetime [1].The single slope solar still with the solar water heater has 114% increase in productivity [2]. The galvanised iron (GI) basin solar still with various basin materials, viz, the helical spherical coil, aluminium fins, stainless steel tube and an iron plate arranged in a lengthwise direction was more effective, compared with the one arranged breadthwise [3]. The plastic solar still has the productivity of 5-5.5 L/m 2 /day, in bright sunny weather and with warm air temperature [4].…”