Experimental performance evaluation of single basin dual slope solar still with circular and square cross-sectional hollow fins

Abstract The paper encompasses the experimental performance evaluation of double slope single basin solar still with circular and square cross-sectional hollow fins. Mild steel circular hollow fins (25 mm diameter, 20 mm height and 2 mm thick) and mild steel square hollow fins (25 mm side length, 20 mm height and 2 mm thick) were welded upon two different mild steel absorber plates, having a dimension of 300 mm × 600 mm × 2 mm. The performance of the double slope single basin solar still was carried out at the location 20.61°N, 72.91°E. The productivity was evaluated for the variation of water depth (10 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm) in basin for the square fin and circular fin solar stills. The results depict that 10 mm water depth is more productive basin water depth for the both solar stills among the different variants. The maximum distilled water output of 1.4917 kg/m 2 -day was obtained from the circular finned solar still for the 10 mm basin water depth, whereas the square finned solar still was achieved the maximum distilled water output of 0.9672 kg/m 2 -day.