HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER IN TUBULAR SOLAR STILL UNDER STEADY CONDITION

Abstract

A quasi steady heat and mass transfer model of a Tubular Solar Still taking account of humid air properties inside the still is presented in this study. Time variations of saline water, humid air, cover and trough temperatures and production and condensation fluxes are derived under a steady meteorological condition. In order to validate the proposed model, an indoor production experiment on a Tubular Solar Still was carried out in a thermostatic room at the University of Fukui. A special technique to investigate the water-vapor movement in the still was also developed and could detect a time lag between the evaporation flux and the condensation flux. It is found from the production experiment that the analytical solutions derived from the present model could reproduce the experimental results on the saline water temperature, the humid air temperature, the cover temperature and production and condensation fluxes.