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Experimental Study on Enhancing the Productivity of Solar Still Using Locally Available Material as a Storage Medium

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Abstract

This experimental study focuses on the effect of pebbles as an energy storage medium on the performance of a solar distillation system. Two single basin solar stills are fabricated with an effective area of 0.5 m2, the glass cover was tilted at 10° with respect to the horizontal. The experiments on the still were carried out under the same climatic conditions for two different modes of operations, (1) conventional still and (2) modified still (pebbles as storage medium). From the study, it could be concluded that (1) the productivity of solar still is increases 9.5 % when pebbles are used as storage medium (2) the maximum amount of heat losses occurs in the solar still is the combined effect of radiation and convection heat transfer from glass to ambient (3) pebbles have the potentiality to store the heat during high solar intensity period and to release the stored energy to water when the solar intensity is low.

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Abbreviations

A:

Area of the basin liner (m2)

Aw :

Area of the water surface (m2)

Cpw :

Specific heat of water (kJ/KgK)

Cw :

Heat capacity of basin water (mass × specific heat) (kJ/K)

hb :

Convective heat transfer coefficient from basin liner to water (W/m2K)

hcg :

Convective heat transfer coefficient from glass to ambient (W/m2K)

hfg :

Latent heat of evaporation (kJ/kg)

hrg :

Radiative heat transfer coefficient from glass to ambient (W/m2K)

htg :

Total heat transfer coefficient from glass to ambient (W/m2K)

htw :

Total heat transfer coefficient from water to glass (W/m2K)

I:

Solar radiation falling on the still (W)

I1 :

The radiation falling on to the water surface after transmitting through glass (W)

I2 :

The solar intensity falling on the basin liner after passing through the water mass (W)

mw :

Mass of distilled water (kg)

Qb :

Convection heat transfer from basin liner to water (W)

Qbot :

Conductive heat transfer from basin liner to atmosphere through bottom side (W)

Qbw :

Conduction heat transfer from inside to atmosphere through back wall (W)

Qcg :

Convection heat transfer from glass to ambient (W)

Qcob :

Conduction heat transfer from basin liner to insulation (W)

Qcw :

Convection heat transfer from water to glass (W)

Qd :

Rate of heat energy of distilled output (W)

Qew :

Evaporative heat transfer from water to glass (W)

Qrg :

Radiation heat transfer from glass to ambient (W)

Qrw :

Radiation heat transfer from water to glass (W)

Qsw :

Conduction heat transfer from inside to atmosphere through side wall (W)

Qsww :

Conductive heat transfer from the inside still to outside through water contact vertical sides (W)

Qu :

Unaccountable heat losses (W)

Ta :

Atmospheric temperature  (°C)

Tb :

Basin liner temperature  (°C)

Tg :

Glass temperature  (°C)

Tw :

Basin water temperature  (°C)

Twi :

Initial water temperature  (°C)

Ubot :

Convective heat transfer coefficient from glass to ambient (W/m2K)

αb :

Absorptivity of basin liner

αg :

Absorptivity of glass

αw :

Absorptivity of water

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coimbatore Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore, 641109, Tamilnadu, India

    Thottipalayam Vellingri Arjunan

  2. Bozok University, Yozgat, 66200, Turkey

    Hikmet Şelli Aybar

  3. Institute of Road and Transport Technology, Erode, 638316, Tamilnadu, India

    Natarajan Nedunchezhian

Authors
  1. Thottipalayam Vellingri Arjunan
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  2. Hikmet Şelli Aybar
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  3. Natarajan Nedunchezhian
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Correspondence to Thottipalayam Vellingri Arjunan.

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Arjunan, T.V., Aybar, H.Ş. & Nedunchezhian, N. Experimental Study on Enhancing the Productivity of Solar Still Using Locally Available Material as a Storage Medium. J. Inst. Eng. India Ser. C 98, 191–196 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-016-0280-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40032-016-0280-7

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