Performance Study On An Inclined Solar Water Distillation System

Inclined solar water distillation systems (ISWDS), one with bare plate and the other with black cloth wick are designed and tested under actual environmental conditions of Trichy, Tamilnadu, India. In basin type solar still systems, the feed water falls down on the absorber plate and fresh water and hot water are produced simultaneously. In the inclined solar still system, the efficiency of distilled water production is improved by retaining it on an wick coupled absorber plate. It has been observed that the solar still with black- cloth wick produced more distilled water. The fresh water production increases with low inlet mass flow rates and also inclination angle at 260 preferable for getting more fresh water production. The fresh water generation rate increased two to three times when wick was used instead of a bare plate. It was proved that longer the feed water is held on the absorber plate, the greater the rate of evaporation, leading to an increase in the amount of distilled water. The improvement in the efficiency of the system is due to higher retaining capacity of wick, higher retention time for water and efficient utilization of absorbed temperature.