Evaluating the Performance of Single Slope Passive Solar Still for Different Slope of Cover and Water Depths by Thermal Modeling: In Moderate Climatic Condition

Abstract

In this communication, the comparative performance of three passive solar distillation units is studied simultaneously having three different inclinations of condensing covers namely 15°, 30° and 45° of same basin area of 1m2 for varying water depths lower (0.04m), medium (0.08m) and higher (0.12m) respectively. The convective and evaporative heat transfer coefficients are evaluated by regression analysis and further used in thermal modeling to predict the yield. The effect of inclination at different water depths has been studied by conducting outdoor experiments for Delhi climatic conditions in the month of March 2005. The hourly variations of water, vapor, and cover temperatures along with yield insolation, ambient air velocity for three distillation units at different water depths have been measured as observations. A fair agreement has been observed between theoretical and experimental results by using the evaluated internal heat transfer coefficients based on inner glass cover temperature.