Performance of single slope solar still coupled to integrated collection/storage type of solar water heater for Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

Solar stills provide better and economical options for getting clean water, especially in remote locations. In present work authors proposed an active solar still coupled to an integrated collection/storage type of solar water heater. Mathematical model of the proposed system has been developed to evaluate the thermal performance of the proposed system. Numerical computations have been performed considering the climate of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India (21.2514 degrees N, 81.6296 degrees E). The effect of depth of water in solar still and the mass flow rate (MFR) of water flowing from heater into the solar still has been investigated. It is seen that the lower depth of water in basin gives more output in comparison to higher depth. At higher mass flow rate of water from solar water heater into the still, the output produced is more in comparison to low MFR. When the mass flow rate of water increased from 0.0020 to 0.012 kg/s the increased in the hourly output of still is about 51.4%. However, at higher MFR the pumping power required will be more. At 0.03 m water depth in basin the annual distillate output produced for Raipur is 2,288 kg/m(2) and when the depth of water is increased to 0.12 m the annual output produced is 705 kg/m(2) (MFR of water from pond is considered as 0.011 kg/s). when the depth of water is increased from 0.3 to 0.12 m the decrease in annual output is about 69.2%. The cost/liter of water produced from the proposed design is Rs. 1.08/L ( US$ 0.013/L) for Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India (at 0.03 m water depth).