Efficacy of partially and fully submerged circular cross-section metal hollow-fins and black cotton cloth wick-segments on a single-basin dual-slope solar still

Abstract

The rapid growth of industrialization and population has led to a worldwide crisis for potable water, which has stimulated researchers to discover an alternative solution to fulfill the need for potable water. Solar still is a solar energy-based device that can fulfill the requirement of potable water but facing the problem of low productivity. The current study aims to improve the productivity of single-basin dual-slope solar stills by incorporating hollow-fins and wick-segments. In two sets of experiments, the performance of solar still for the partially and fully submerged hollow-fins and wick-segments was compared with solar still without augmentation. An enhancement of 4.05% and 8.61% in distillate output and 5.20% and 9.39% in efficiency was obtained from the solar stills with partially submerged hollow-fins and wick-segments. Whereas an increment of 9.44% and 6.11% in distillate output and 10.08% and 6.54% in efficiency was obtained from the solar stills with fully submerged hollow-fins and wick-segments. Wick-segments improve the performance of solar still by increasing the evaporation surface and rate of evaporation by capillary action. Whereas hollow-fins improve the performance of solar still by increasing the heat storage capacity, the contact area with saline water, and reducing the thermal resistance for the heat transfer. The performance of solar still was maximum with wick-segments for the partially submerged case, whereas with hollow-fins for the fully submerged case. The solar still with wick-segments was found economical in both partially and fully submerged cases.