Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Experimental study on performance of passive and active solar stills in Indian coastal climatic condition

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Frontiers in Energy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This present work is aimed to examine the effect of mass flow rate on distillate output and performance of a solar still in active mode. Outdoor experiments were conducted at the coastal town, Kakinada (16°93′N/83°33′E), Andhra Pradesh, India. A solar still with a 30° of fixed cover inclination, 1 m2 of effective basin area, and a flat-plate collector (FPC) with an effective area of 2 m2 were used. An attempt was also made earlier in passive mode to optimize the water depth for the same solar still for maximum yield and distillation efficiency. For the passive still, it is observed that the capacity of heat storage and heat drop are significant parameters that affect the still performance. For the selected still design, the study reveals that 0.04 m water depth is the optimum value for specific climatic conditions. In the active solar still, with the optimum water depth, different flow rates of 0.5, 1 and 1.5 L/min are considered through FPC. It is observed that both the mass flow rate and the variation of internal heat transfer coefficients with the mass flow rate have a significant effect on the yield and performance of the still. The experimental results show that the combination of 1.5 L/min mass flow rate and an optimum water depth of 0.04 m leads to a maximum yield for the active solar still. The enhanced yield of the active solar still is 57.55%, compared with that of the passive solar still, due to increase in area of radiation collection and more heat absorption rate.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dunkle R V. Solar water distillation, the roof type still and a multiple effect diffusion still, international developments in heat transfer. In: Proceedings of ASME International Heat Transfer Conference, Part 5, University of Colorado, 1961, 895–902

    Google Scholar 

  2. Kumar S, Tiwari G N. Estimation of convective mass transfer in solar distillation system. Solar Energy, 1996, 57(6): 459–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Rajamanickam M R, Ragupathy A. Influence of water depth on internal heat and mass transfer in a double slope solar still. Energy Procedia, 2012, 14: 1701–1708

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Rai S N, Tiwari G N. Single basin solar still coupled with flat plate collector. Energy Conversion and Management, 1983, 23(3): 145–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Singh H N, Tiwari G N. Monthly performance of passive and active solar stills for different Indian climatic conditions. Desalination, 2004, 168(1–3): 145–150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Dwivedi V K, Tiwari G N. Experimental validation of thermal model of a double slope active solar still under natural circulation mode. Desalination, 2010, 250(1): 49–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Feilizadeh M, Estahbanati MR K, Ahsan A, Jafarpur K, Mersaghian A. Effects of water and basin depths in single basin solar stills: an experimental and theoretical study. Energy Conversion and Management, 2016, 122: 174–181

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Taghvaei H, Taghvaei H, Jafarpur K, Feilizadeh M, Karimi Estahbanati M R. Experimental investigation of the effect of solar collecting area on the performance of active solar stills with different brine depths. Desalination, 2015, 358: 76–83

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Taghvaei H, Taghvaei H, Jafarpur K, Estahbanati M R K, Feilizadeh M. A thorough investigation of the effects of water depth on the performance of active solar stills. Desalination, 2014, 347: 77–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bhardwaj R, ten Kortenaar M V, Mudde R F. Maximized production of water by increasing area of condensation surface for solar distillation. Applied Energy, 2015, 154: 480–490

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Dev R, Abdul-wahab S A, Tiwari G N. Performance study of the inverted absorber solar still with water depth and total dissolved solid. Applied Energy, 2011, 88(1): 252–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Ahsan A, Imteaz M, Thomas U A, Azmi M, Rahman A, Nik Daud N N. Parameters affecting the performance of a low cost solar still. Applied Energy, 2014, 114(2): 924–930

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Tripathi R, Tiwari G N. Thermal modeling of passive and active solar stills for different depths of water by using the concept of solar fraction. Solar Energy, 2006, 80(8): 956–967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Elango T, Kalidasa Murugavel K. The effect of the water depth on the productivity for single and double basin double slope glass solar stills. Desalination, 2015, 359: 82–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Somanchi N S, Sagi S L S, Kumar T A, Kakarlamudi S P D, Parik A. Modelling and analysis of single slope solar still at different water depth. Aquatic Procedia, 2015, 4: 1477–1482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Durkaieswaran P, Kailas Murugavel K. Various special designs of single basin passive solar still—a review. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015, 49: 1048–1060

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Tabrizi F F, Dashtban M, Moghaddam H, Razzaghi K. Effect of water flow rate on internal heat and mass transfer and daily productivity of a weir-type cascade solar still. Desalination, 2010, 260(1–3): 239–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Panchal H N, Patel M I, Patel B, Goswami R, Doshi M. A comparatıve analysıs of sıngle slope solar stıll coupled wıth flat plate collector and passıve solar. IJRRAS, 2011, 7: 111–116

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kumar S, Dubey A, Tiwari G N. A solar still augmented with an evacuated tube collector in forced mode. Desalination, 2014, 347: 15–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Panchal H N. Performance analysis of solar still with cow dung cakes and blue metal stones. Frontiers in Energy, 2015, 9(2): 180–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Panchal H N, Shah P K. Enhancement of distillate output of double basin solar still with vacuum tubes. Frontiers in Energy, 2014, 8(1): 101–109

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Singh R V, Kumar S, Hasan M M, Khan M E, Tiwari G N. Performance of a solar still integrated with evacuated tube collector in natural mode. Desalination, 2013, 318: 25–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. El-Agouz S A, El-Samadony Y A F, Kabeel A E. Performance evaluation of a continuous flow inclined solar still desalination system. Energy Conversion and Management, 2015, 101: 606–615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Sathyamurthy R, El-Agouz S A, Nagarajan P K, Subramani J, Arunkumar T, Mageshbabu D, Madhu B, Bharathwaaj R, Prakash N. A review of integrating solar collectors to solar still. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017, 77: 1069–1097

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Panchal H N, Shah P K. Effect of varying glass cover thickness on performance of solar still: in a winter climate conditions. International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, 2011, 1(4): 212–223

    Google Scholar 

  26. Nakra B C. Instrumentation Measurement and Analysis. New Delhi: Tata Mc Graw-Hill, 1985

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are very thankful to JNTUK, Kakinada, for providing the experimental facilities. Distinct thanks are extended to Dr. S. Ramesh Babu, and Dr. T.V.V. Sudhakar of SCET, Narasapur, India for their cooperation at every stage of this research work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTUK), Kakinada, 533003, India

    R. Lalitha Narayana

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Nuzivid, 521201, India

    V. Ramachandra Raju

Authors
  1. R. Lalitha Narayana
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. V. Ramachandra Raju
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Lalitha Narayana.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lalitha Narayana, R., Ramachandra Raju, V. Experimental study on performance of passive and active solar stills in Indian coastal climatic condition. Front. Energy 14, 105–113 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-018-0536-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11708-018-0536-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation