Thermal and Exergetic Analysis of a Solar Still

Abstract

In this work an energy and exergy analysis of solar distillation process is presented. The analysis is based on the experimental observation of the simple basin type solar stills for 4 different initial volumes (5.5, 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5 L). Energy and exergy balance equations have been written for all components of the solar still including glass cover, brine and absorber plate. The thermodynamic models for the energy and exergy analysis are presented on the critical heat transfer correlations in literatures for the simple basin type solar still. The results show that maximum values are reached in the energy efficiency of 45.6, 41.5, 35.7 and 31.8%, however exergetic efficiency for maximum values are 7.5, 7.2, 7 and 5.4%, corresponding to volumes 5.5, 6.5, 7.5 and 8.5 L respectively.