Experimental studies on inclined PV panel solar still with cover cooling and PCM

This work presents the experimental studies on the effect of mass stream rate of water (mf), phase change material and cover cooling of an inclined solar panel basin solar still (ISPBSS). Experimental results revealed that cooling the entire surface of the glass cover of ISPBSS with fully opened flow of water produced the maximum distilled water. On varying mf, the glass temperature is higher during the minimum mf. With increased mf from 7.35 to 13.32 and from 7.35 to 17.72 kg h−1, the glass temperature is almost equivalent to the ambient temperature with fully opened flow cover cooling technique. The reduced glass temperature enhanced the rate of condensation. Similarly, the hourly instant efficiency of the ISPBSS with fully opened cover cooling is higher as compared with the similar ISPBSS without and with partially cover cooling condition. The highest hourly instantaneous efficiency of ISPBSS with partially and fully opened cover cooling is found as 85% and 88%, respectively.