GLOBAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING SCIENCE AND RESEARCHES INFLUENCE OF WATER DEPTH ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A DUAL PURPOSE SINGLE BASIN DOUBLE SLOPE SOLAR STILL

An attempt has been made to analyze the performance of a dual purpose single basin double slope solar still. Experiments have been carried out for number of days during September – November 2012 at Karpagam University, Coimbatore. The energy balance equations have been written for different elements of the solar still such as glass cover, basin water, still basin and heat exchanger tube. A computer program has been written for analytical solution of the energy balance equations. The optimum water depth has been found with heat exchanger coil by doing experiments for higher productivity and extraction of thermal energy from the still. The productivity of the still is higher when least water depth is maintained due to low thermal capacity and also the heat exchanger tube has not affected the evaporation process during the working hours of the still. The maximum temperature of the water from the outlet of the heat exchanger is found to be 60 oC and the overall efficiency of the still is found to be 40%. Theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental results.