A group of improved heat and mass transfer correlations in solar stills

Based on the analogy of heat and mass transfer and an empirical correlation, a group of improved heat and mass transfer correlations in basin type solar stills is established. In order to validate the correlation group, a multi-stage stacked tray solar still with basin area of 0.665 x 0.650 m(2) is constructed of aluminum sheets. By comparison of the calculated results with the measurement results, which were obtained from our steady state simulated experiments and reported in previous literature, it is found that the correlation group developed in this work can provide better predictions for the evaporation rate of basin type solar stills at the wide range of Rayleigh number (3.5 x 10(3) < Ra < 2.26 x 10(7)) and temperature (35 < T-w < 86degreesC). (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.