Performance improvement of solar still by using float wicks in different proportion of covered area

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the present study, the influence of water thickness for the active solar still (solar still integrated to solar pond as an external source of heat addition) has been studied for an attempt to obtain the appropriate water depth. The accumulated and hourly distillate of solar still with float wicks in different proportions of covered area of 50%, 75%, and 100% and integrated to shallow solar pond have been investigated. With the use of float wicks alone, a reduction in basin water temperature of solar still has been noticed during daytime because of the restriction of solar radiation to reach the basin absorber. Therefore, to overcome this problem, an additional thermal energy from solar pond has been supplied to solar still through heat exchanger in continuous mode from 8 am to 8 pm. The maximum distillate output was obtained with 5 cm depth, which were 13.6%, 20.69%, and 29.87% greater over water depth of 4, 6, & 7 cm, respectively. An enhancement of 7.2%, 9.2%, 38.13%, and 23.33% have been obtained for the solar still with float wicks alone, solar still assisted with solar pond and having float wicks in proportion of 50%, 75%, and 100%, respectively, over conventional still.