International Journal of Engineering and Techniques - Volume 2 Issue 2, Mar – Apr 2016
RESEARCH ARTICLE
OPEN ACCESS
Theoretical and Experimental Investigation on a Single Basin Double Slope Solar Still Venkatraman an k., Anadhavelu k ,thiruvasamoorthy k Research Scholar
ABSTRACT Solarstill,whichconvertsavailableebrackishor impurewaterinto potablewater,canbeusedtosupplyydrinkingwate rforthepeoplelivingin arid andr dremote areas. But, thisstill isnot popular bec ecause of its lower productivity. This rese search work presents the theoreticall and actual performance ofthe single basinn double slope solar still and expplores the differentmethodstoimprovetheeffficiency. Asinglebasindoubleslopestillwithhoverallsizeo f2.5m 1.5m 1m wasfabricatedd and tested under laboratory conditionss ((still – laboratory)andinactualsolarradiaationconditio ns(stilll –solar)at o o chidambaram(9 11’N,77 52’E),a ,acity insouthernIndia.Experimentswerreconductedf different orr depthsofwaterupto0.2cmandwithhdifferent basinmaterials. Differentwickmaterialslikelightcoottoncloth,jut eclothandlightsponge sheetwereused.Aluminiumrectanngularfinsarra ngedinlengthandbreadth wisecoveredwithcottonclothandjuuteclothwere alsousedinthee basin.The solidmaterialslikequartziterocksoof differentsizes,naturallywashedstoones, cementconcretepiecesand,brickk piecesand ironturningswereusedinthe basin.Theabovesaidsolidmateriallswerenotuse dsofar. Experiments wereconductedusingdifferentglas assthicknesswi differentinclinationandorienntationandthe th variationsintransmittancewere
ISSN: 2395-1303
studied.Aregressionequationwaasestablished,to calculatethetransmittance ofthegiventhickness glassplatte atanyplace andatanytimeforgiven radiation conditions. The varriationsofenergy losses at cover plates were stu udied. A new model is prop oposed for the theoretical analysis by considering c the transmittance variations ofthee cover plates and radiation received at thee glass cover as input. In theearlier work, w constant transmittancewasconsideredan ndradiationonth e horizontalbasinareawas con onsidered as input. From thetheoretical anallysis of the still (still – theoretical)usingprroposedmodel,it wasfoundthat,thestillproductio onwas increasingwiththedecreasein depth.Inadditiontothestudyoff variationsof watertemperature,glasstemperaatureand productionrate withlocaltime,the t variation of water – glass temperaturee difference with local time and producti tion ratewere alsostudied.Atlowbasin waatertemperature, below o 60 C,water– glasstemperaturedifferencewasshavingproport ionatevariation with
productionrate.
Att higherwater o temperature above 60 C, the still behaviorwasdifferentandthe productionratevariedinverselyw withthis temperature difference.. During this different operation cond ndition, the productionratewas
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