Effect of fin configuration parameters on single basin solar still performance

Abstract Fresh water productivity of single basin solar stills is very low. In this work to enhance the rate of heat transfer from the basin liner to the basin water, fins were integrated at the basin liner of the still. Experiments were performed on a finned plate solar still during June and August 2014 under Tanta (lat. 30° 47′ N, Egypt) weather conditions. For the first time, the dependence of the still efficiency and productivity on the fin configuration parameters such as the number nf, height Hf and thickness xf was studied. Furthermore, the effect of the shadow area of the fins (by changing the fin number nf) on the amount of solar radiation available for water evaporation and hence, its effect on productivity was also investigated. It was found that, the productivity of the finned plate solar still (FBLS) increases with increasing the fin height; however, it decreases with increasing the fin thickness and fin number. A daily productivity of 5.377 (kg/m2 day) was obtained when nf, Hf and xf equal 7, 0.04 m and 0.001 m, respectively.

[1]  Abdelhafid Moummi,et al.  Energy analysis of a solar air collector with rows of fins , 2004 .

[2]  Mohammad Reza Jaefarzadeh,et al.  Thermal behavior of a small salinity-gradient solar pond with wall shading effect , 2004 .

[3]  H. N. Singh,et al.  Present status of solar distillation , 2003 .

[4]  A. E. Kabeel,et al.  Theoretical and experimental parametric study of modified stepped solar still , 2012 .

[5]  K.G.T. Hollands,et al.  Optimization of an absorber plate fin having a step-change in local thickness , 1992 .

[6]  A. E. Kabeel,et al.  Performance of finned and corrugated absorbers solar stills under Egyptian conditions , 2011 .

[7]  Chii-Dong Ho,et al.  Collector efficiency of double-flow solar air heaters with fins attached , 2002 .

[8]  N. Al Mahdi,et al.  Performance prediction of a multi-basin solar still , 1992 .

[9]  W. Beckman,et al.  Solar Engineering of Thermal Processes , 1985 .

[10]  Hassan E.S. Fath,et al.  Thermal-economic analysis and comparison between pyramid-shaped and single-slope solar still configurations , 2003 .

[11]  B. Katsoulis,et al.  The wind energy potential of western greece , 1992 .

[12]  George M. Ayoub,et al.  The Effect of Cover Geometry on the Productivity of a Modified Solar Still Desalination Unit , 2014 .

[13]  M. K. Phadatare,et al.  Influence of water depth on internal heat and mass transfer in a plastic solar still , 2007 .

[14]  Khamlichi Abdellatif,et al.  Modeling an active solar still for sea water desalination process optimization , 2014 .

[15]  M. Fishenden,et al.  An Introduction To Heat Transfer , 1950 .

[16]  Pichai Namprakai,et al.  The thermal performance of an ethanol solar still with fin plate to increase productivity , 2011 .

[17]  Demir Inan,et al.  Analysis of a parallel double glass solar still with separate condenser , 1999 .

[18]  S. D. Probert,et al.  Heat removal from a triangular finned flat-plate solar-energy collector , 1989 .

[19]  A. Hachemi,et al.  Experimental study of thermal performance of offset rectangular plate fin absorber-plates , 1999 .

[20]  Ali A. Badran,et al.  A solar still augmented with a flat-plate collector , 2005 .

[21]  K. Srithar,et al.  An experimental investigation on a solar still with an integrated flat plate collector , 2014 .

[22]  K. Srithar,et al.  Desalination of effluent using fin type solar still , 2008 .

[23]  M. Tiris,et al.  Experimental studies on a solar still coupled with a flat-plate collector and a single basin still , 1998 .

[24]  S. C. Mullick,et al.  Calculation of Hourly Output of a Solar Still , 1993 .

[25]  K. Srithar,et al.  SINGLE BASIN SOLAR STILL WITH FIN FOR ENHANCING PRODUCTIVITY , 2008 .

[26]  Abdelaziz Arbaoui,et al.  Desalination of the brackish water using a passive solar still with a heat energy storage system , 2013 .

[27]  S. A. El-Agouz,et al.  Experimental investigation of stepped solar still with continuous water circulation , 2014 .

[28]  Kamaruzzaman Sopian,et al.  Performance studies on a finned double-pass photovoltaic-thermal (PV/T) solar collector , 2007 .

[29]  J. Fricke,et al.  Optimized finned absorber geometries for solar air heating collectors , 1999 .

[30]  A. Harmim,et al.  Experimental study of a double exposure solar cooker with finned cooking vessel , 2008 .