Performance Enhancement Study on Solar Stills by Increasing Evaporative Surface Area and Condensing Surface Area

Abstract

The main theme of this research is for augmenting the yield of solar still (SS) with dual glazing, rotating cylinders, and to compare the distillate yield of these modified SS with that of the conventional solar still (CSS). In this respect, three types of SS with the same dimensions are planned, fabricated, and tested under the same climatic conditions. In addition, two cylinders wrapped with black cotton cloth are incorporated in a still (CBSS) and the other still is double‐glazed (DGSS). The CSS is especially applied for the comparison with the yield of another two surface‐modified SS. The yield of CBSS is 38.3% higher than CSS. While the yield of DGSS is lesser than CSS by 11%, this reduction in yield is due to the decrease in solar radiation reaching the absorber surface due to the presence of condensed water droplets in two glazing surfaces. The productivity of CBSS is higher than CSS because the evaporative surface area in CBSS is increased by rotating the two cylinders wrapped with cotton wick. Thus, it is construed that the SS with two cylinders wrapped with a cotton wick is the best option among the stills considered in this study.