Effect of Shape of the Absorber Surface on the Performance of Stepped Type Solar Still

Jagannath S.  Gawande; Lalit B.  Bhuyar

doi:10.4236/epe.2013.58053

Jagannath S. Gawande^*, Lalit B. Bhuyar

Abstract: In this work, we have selected three number of stepped type solar stills of the same overall dimensions 620 mm (W) × 808 mm (L) but with different absorber surface areas due to the variation in the shape of the basin surface. The other design parameters like depth of water, thickness of glass cover, insulation thickness, type of condensing cover, absorbing material provided over the basin, and angle of inclination of the still were kept constant to study the effect of shape of the absorber surface over the distillate yield obtained. The shape of the absorber surface provided in the basins of solar stills A, E and F was flat, convex and concave respectively. When the convex and concave type stepped solar stills are used, the average daily water production has been found to be 56.60% and 29.24% higher than that of flat type stepped solar still respectively. Also an economic analysis was made. The payback period of flat type, convex type and concave type stepped solar still is 823 days, 525 days and 637 days respectively. Thus, the convex type solar still gives the returns within the least possible time as compared to other two types of stepped solar stills. The laboratory tests were conducted to test the quality of water after distillation. The tests indicate that the quality of water in terms of pH, electrical conductivity, total hardness, TDS, Alkalinity, Nitrates etc. is well within the desirable limits as prescribed by WHO for Indian specific conditions.

Keywords: Stepped Type Solar Still; Absorber Plate; Flat Surface; Concave Surface; Convex Surface;Distillate Yield

Cite this paper: J. Gawande and L. Bhuyar, "Effect of Shape of the Absorber Surface on the Performance of Stepped Type Solar Still," Energy and Power Engineering, Vol. 5 No. 8, 2013, pp. 489-497. doi: 10.4236/epe.2013.58053.

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