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Thermodynamic and water analysis on augmentation of a solar still with copper tube heat exchanger in coarse aggregate

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Abstract

In this paper, the thermodynamic (energy and exergy) analysis and water analysis of a modified solar still augmented with copper tube heat exchanger in coarse aggregate have been carried out and compared with conventional still performance under the same climatic conditions. Basin water temperature, solar intensity, wind velocity, cumulative yield, water conductivity, total hardness, pH value and fluoride concentration are obtained from experimental results for saline, basin and distilled water. Energy efficiency, evaporation and convective heat transfer coefficient, exergy evaporation rate and exergy efficiency are determined from energy and exergy analysis. The results show that the modified still has an efficiency of 28% and 17% greater than the conventional still. The productivity of modified and conventional still is 6.23 kg m−2 and 2.41 kg m−2, respectively. The exergy efficiency depends on the time of the test day and reaches a maximum value of 5.5% and 1.1%, respectively, for the modified and conventional still. From the water analysis, it is observed that the maximum distilled water pH, water conductivity, hardness and fluoride content are 7.5, 0.8 × 10−4 S m−1 (0.8 µS cm−1), 0.5 × 10−3 kg m−1 (0.5 mg L−1) and 0.7 × 10−3 kg m−3 (0.7 mg L−1), respectively, with the still salinity removal efficiency of 99%. The results indicate that the modified still has higher energy and exergy efficiencies and better water quality with cumulative yield.

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Abbreviations

h :

Heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

h fg :

Latent heat of evaporation (J kg−1)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W m−1 K−1)

L :

Length (m)

U o :

Overall heat transfer coefficient (W m−2 K−1)

m :

Yield per unit area (kg m−2)

P :

Pressure (Pa)

C p :

Specific heat at constant pressure (J kg−1 K−1)

q :

Rate of heat transfer (W m−2)

T :

Temperature (K)

W :

Work (W)

A :

Basin area of the solar still (m2)

I(t)s :

Hourly incident solar radiation (W m−2)

\({\dot{\text{E}}\text{x}}\) :

Exergy (W)

\({\dot{\text{E}}\text{x}}_{\text{dest}}\) :

Exergy destructed in the solar still water (W)

\({\dot{\text{E}}\text{x}}_{\text{sun}}\) :

Exergy input from the sun to solar still (W)

\(\varepsilon_{\text{eff}}\) :

Effective emissivity

\(\sigma\) :

Stefan–Boltzmann constant (5.67 × 10−8 W m−2 K−4)

\(\eta_{\text{E}}\) :

Energy efficiency of the system (%)

\(\eta_{\text{Ex}}\) :

Exergy efficiency of the system (%)

\(\omega\) :

Uncertainty

a:

Ambient air

ba:

Basin

c:

Convection

ca:

Coarse aggregate

eva:

Evaporation

gl:

Glass

i:

Input to the solar still

ins:

Insulation

out:

Output from the solar still

hx:

Heat exchanger

r:

Radiation

S:

Sun

sd:

Side of still

ws:

Water surface

w:

Water

work:

Work rate of the solar still

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Technology, Coimbatore, 641042, India

    Ramasamy Dhivagar & Subramanian Sundararaj

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  1. Ramasamy Dhivagar
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  2. Subramanian Sundararaj
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Correspondence to Ramasamy Dhivagar.

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Dhivagar, R., Sundararaj, S. Thermodynamic and water analysis on augmentation of a solar still with copper tube heat exchanger in coarse aggregate. J Therm Anal Calorim 136, 89–99 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-018-7746-1

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