https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5280-0056
![Sample our Built Environment journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5926/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Built-Environment.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Passive solar stills are simple and economic water treatment systems which apply natural hydrological cycle to transform brackish and saline water into freshwater useful to the society. This paper reports the performance of aTwin Wedge Solar Still with concrete basin (TWSS(CONC)) designed suitably for implementation in Green Building Applications. Through an experimental investigation, the performance of this TWSSsystem is compared with that of Conventional Solar Still (CSS) and the effect of including an Aluminum liner to the concrete basin of TWSS(TWSS(CONC+Al)) is also studied. The experimentation was carried out at South Indian location of Kattankulathur (Longitude/Latitude: 88.6241° E/24.3636° N), on a summer day. The distillate yields of the CSS, TWSS(CONC)and TWSS(CONC+Al) were obtained as 1.90 l/m2, 2.77 l/m2 and 4.17 l/m2, correspondingly. The thermal efficiency of TWSS(CONC+Al), was 1.8 times more than TWSS(CONC) and 2.6 times more than the CSS. The TWSS(CONC+Al), delivered freshwater at the cost of $ 0.027 per liter. The Twin Wedge shaped glass lid allowed more solar radiation to be received by the basin as well as increased the condensation surface. The aluminum lining inTWSS(CONC+Al) aided proper distribution of heat in the basin and increased the evaporation rate. The thermal energy which was stockpiled in the concrete basin enabled to maintain a significant difference between thebasin water and condensing surface temperatures during the hours when the solar radiation intensity was low. The payback time period for TWSS(CONC+Al)was estimated to be only 9 months.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Abbreviations and acronyms
| Abasin | = | Solar still basin area (m2) |
| Awater | = | Area of water in basin (m2) |
| AC | = | Annual Cost ($) |
| AMC | = | Annual Maintenance Cost ($) |
| ASV | = | Annual Salvage Value ($) |
| AWS | = | Automatic Weather Station |
| C | = | Capital cost ($) |
| CHT | = | Convective Heat Transfer |
| CPL | = | Cost of distilled water production per liter ($) |
| CRF | = | Capital Recovery Factor |
| CSS | = | Conventional Solar Still |
| DSSS | = | Double Slope Solar Still |
| EHT | = | Evaporative Heat Transfer |
| FAC | = | Fixed Annual Cost ($) |
| Gsolar | = | Solar intensity (W/m2) |
| hconvc,water-glass | = | Convective heat transfer coefficient betwixt waterand glass (W/m2.°C) |
| hevap,water-glass | = | Evaporative heat transfer coefficient betwixt waterand glass (W/m2.°C) |
| hradi,water-glass | = | Radiative heat transfer coefficient betwixt water and glass (W/m2.°C) |
| i | = | Interest rate (%) |
| IHT | = | Internal Heat Transfer |
| Lwater | = | Enthalpy of vaporization (J/kg) |
| mdistillate | = | Mass of hourly distillate collected (kg) |
| MAY | = | Annual Yield (liters/m2) |
| MT,distillate | = | Mass of total gathered distillate (kg) |
| MSS | = | Modified Solar Still |
| n | = | Life span of Solar Still (years) |
| Pwater | = | Partial pressure at basin saline water temperature(N/m2) |
| Pglass | = | Partial pressure at glass temperature (N/m2) |
| PCM | = | Phase Change Material |
| Qconvc,water-glass | = | Convective heat transfer rate betwixt water andglass (W/m2) |
| Qevap,water-glass | = | Evaporative heat transfer rate betwixt water andglass (W/m2) |
| Qradi,water-glass | = | Radiative heat transfer rate betwixt water andglass (W/m2) |
| RHT | = | Radiative Heat Transfer |
| SFF | = | Sinking Fund Factor |
| SP | = | Selling Price ($) |
| SV | = | Salvage Value ($) |
| t | = | Time period (seconds, hours) |
| Tambient | = | Ambient air temperature (°C) |
| Tbasin | = | Basin temperature (°C) |
| Tglass,in | = | Glass lid inner surface temperature (°C) |
| Twater | = | Basin water mass temperature (°C) |
| TWSS | = | Twin Wedge Solar Still |
| TWSS(CONC) | = | Twin Wedge Solar Still with concrete basin |
| TWSS(CONC+Al) | = | Twin Wedge Solar Still with aluminum linedconcrete basin |
Greek
| εglass | = | emissivity of still glass lid |
| εwater | = | emissivity of brackish water in the basin |
| εeff | = | effective emissivity |
| η | = | daily thermal energy efficiency |
| σ | = | Stefan-Boltzmann constant |
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Wesley Jeevadason Aruldoss
Wesley Jeevadason Aruldoss is a Research Scholar pursuing his Ph.D. at the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India. He received his Master’s in Energy Engineering from National Engineering College affiliated to Anna University, Chennai. He has published technical papers in high impact factor Elsevier and IEEE journals. He has rich industrial experience in Designing as well as Project Engineering of Solar PV systems, Solar Thermal systems, Electric/Fossil Fuel Steam Boiler based Energy Systems, Steam Energy Distribution system designing and Site Engineering of MEP system of commercial buildings, through his prior work experience in Kuwait. He also earlier worked as Industrial Automation Engineer in India. His research interests include Energy-Water Nexus, Desalination Systems, Renewable Energy Systems, Thermal Management, and Organic Photovoltaics. He is a member of the Institute of Engineers (India) and Kuwait Society of Engineers.
Padmini Sankaramurthy
Padmini Sankaramurthy (Member, IEEE) received the M.Tech. degree in Power Systems and the Ph.D. degree from the SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai. She is currently working as an Associate Professor with the SRM Institute of Science and Technology. She has published over 36 journal publications in various international peer-reviewed journals and has presented over 50 research articles in international and national conferences. She was a recipient of the Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Award for Young Scientist. Her areas of interest are renewable energy systems, desalination, power system optimization, short term hydrothermal scheduling and deregulated power systems. She serves as reviewer for various reputed scientific journals. She is a Life Member of ISTE and MIE, India.
Suresh Muthusamy
Suresh Muthusamy received the bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and the master’s degree in Power Electronics and Drives during the year 2009 and 2011 from Anna University, Chennai, and Anna University, Coimbatore, respectively. Currently, he is working towards the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering at Anna University, Chennai, in the area of Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems. He worked as Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Kongu Engineering College (Autonomous), Perundurai, Erode during the period June 2011 to January 2020. From January 2020 onwards, he has been working as Assistant Professor Senior Grade in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Kongu Engineering College (Autonomous), Perundurai, Erode. He published more than 85 research articles in well reputed and refereed international journals like Elsevier, Springer, Taylor & Francis, SAGE, ASME, ASTM international, MDPI, etc, & indexed in SCI, SCIE, ESCI, Scopus and Web of Science with good impact factor. He presented several research articles in national and international conferences and also serving as the reviewer, editor for about 52 international journals including IET Renewable Power Generation, IET Journal of Engineering, etc. To his credit, he has filed and published 28 Indian patents in IPR website, governed by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. His areas of interests include hybrid renewable energy systems, power electronic converters, hybrid electric vehicles and battery management systems.
Meenakumari Ramachandran
Meenakumari Ramachandran currently working as Professor in Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, Tamil Nadu, India. She completed hers bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, master’s degree in Power Systems Engineering from Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, and the doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, in the area of Power System Planning. She is having a teaching experience of more than 30 years at various levels in Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai. She published more than 40 research articles in well-reputed journals with good impact factor and indexed in SCI, SCIE, Scopus and WoS. Her current research interests include power system deregulation, distributed generation, renewable energy, etc.
![Supercharge Your Next Research Paper: Research and write your next paper with Jenni AI.]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/112446/MPU-L1EB.png"})