Effect of flat plate collectors in parallel on the performance of the active solar still for Indian coastal climatic conditions

ABSTRACT

The effect of flat-plate collectors (FPCs) when connected in parallel on, in particular, the heat transfer coefficients and, in general, distillate output and the efficiency of solar still has been studied in the active mode. The solar still has an effective basin area of 1 m² and fixed cover inclination of 30°. Each FPC with an effective area of 2 m² is attached to the solar still. An effective collector inclination of 5° is used. Experiments have been conducted for 24 h in summer for the active solar distillation system at Kakinada (16°.93′N/83°.33′E), India, which has coastal climatic conditions. The aim of the present work is to study the variation in internal heat transfer coefficients with respect to the number of FPCs coupled with the solar still in parallel. It is understood that the heat transfer coefficients depend significantly on the size of the collector. The size of the collector is increased by increasing the number of collectors. It is also observed that this leads to an increase in distillate output but a decrease in efficiency of the solar still.

KEYWORDS:

• Distillation efficiency
• active solar still
• heat transfer coefficient
• collector inclination
• flat-plate collector

Acknowledgements

We are very thankful to JNTUK, Kakinada, for providing the experimental facilities.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.