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Thermal Performance of Improved Inverted Trickle Solar Still

  • Conference paper
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ICREGA’14 - Renewable Energy: Generation and Applications

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Energy ((SPE))

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Abstract

In this paper, the inverted trickle solar still was integrated with a flat plate collector and a basin still in order to improve the overall productivity. The flat-plate collector was used to pre-heat the saline water entering the inverted trickle solar still. Saline water flows at the backside of the inclined absorber plate on wire screen so that the water remains attached to the plate. Water evaporates from the plate and condenses in the lower compartment. The remaining non evaporated water and the condensed water on the back plate which has high temperature was collected and fed to the basin solar still. A comprehensive mathematical thermal model was developed to predict the productivity and to investigate the effects of several operating conditions on the overall productivity of the integrated system. Based on the performed parametric studies, the maximum mass flow rate of 0.002 kg/s was found to be optimum as it maximized both the efficiency and the productivity of the integrated solar still system. On the other hand, the obtained results at the optimum flow rate showed that the maximum overall productivity on a typical summer day (i.e. 1st of July) and a typical winter day (i.e. 1st of February) were 11.25 kg/day and 5.227 kg/day, respectively for Dubai weather conditions. This study revealed that the productivity of the proposed integrated inverted trickle solar still is almost doubled due to the incorporation of flat plate collector in comparison of the previous work posted in the literature.

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Abbreviations

Ac :

Area of Flat plate collector, m2

UL :

Total loss coefficient, W/m2K

\( {\rm{\dot{m}}} \) :

Mass flow rate of water, kg/s

Gt :

Absorbed solar radiation, W/m2

(τα)e :

Effective transmittance absorptance

Tfi :

Inlet temperature of fluid, K

Tfo :

Outlet temperature of fluid, K

Tpm :

Mean absorber plate temperature still, K

Ta :

Ambient temperature, K

Qu :

Useful energy gain, W

ηf :

Efficiency of flat plate collector

qb :

Heat loss from lower condenser plate, W/m2

qp−c :

Heat loss from plate to cover, W/m2

qc−a :

Heat loss from cover to ambient, W/m2

qs :

Heat loss from sides per unit still area, W/m2

Aic :

Area of collector for Inverted trickle Solar still, m2

Tio :

Outlet temperature of water from Inverted trickle, K

Tii :

Inlet temperature of water of inverted trickle solar still, K

Tw :

Condenser wall temperature, K

h0 :

Heat transfer coefficient between condenser and ambient, W/m2K

U2 :

Overall heat loss coefficient from plate to cover, W/m2K

Ue :

Heat transfer coefficient from the sides of the still, W/m2K

M:

Productivity of distillate water, kg/s

hfg :

Heat of vaporization of water, KJ/Kg

ηi :

Efficiency of the Inverted Trickle Solar still

qbe :

Heat transfer by evaporation-condensation, W/m2

qr :

Heat loss by radiation, W/m2

qc :

Heat loss by convection, W/m2

qk :

Heat loss by conduction, W/m2

Tb :

Basin temperature, K

Tg :

Glass temperature, K

Ab :

Area of basin solar still, m2

ηbi :

Efficiency of basin solar still

Mb :

Productivity of basin solar still, kg/s

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Heriot-Watt University, P.O. Box 294345, Dubai, The United Arab Emirates

    Fadi A. Ghaith & Ahmed Bilal

Authors
  1. Fadi A. Ghaith
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  2. Ahmed Bilal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fadi A. Ghaith .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Engineering Dept. Mechanical Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Utd.Arab.Emir.

    Mohammad O. Hamdan

  2. Faculty of Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Utd.Arab.Emir.

    Hassan A.N. Hejase

  3. Faculty of Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Utd.Arab.Emir.

    Hassan M. Noura

  4. Faculty of Engineering Dept. of Electrical Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Utd.Arab.Emir.

    Abbas A. Fardoun

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© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Ghaith, F.A., Bilal, A. (2014). Thermal Performance of Improved Inverted Trickle Solar Still. In: Hamdan, M., Hejase, H., Noura, H., Fardoun, A. (eds) ICREGA’14 - Renewable Energy: Generation and Applications. Springer Proceedings in Energy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05708-8_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05708-8_39

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05707-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05708-8

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

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