International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 6340(Print), ISSN

N 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME AND TECHNOLOGY (IJMET)
ISSN 0976 6340 (Print) ISSN 0976 6359 (Online) Volume 4 Issue 1 January- February (2013), pp. 22-29 IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijmet.asp Journal Impact Factor (2012): 3.8071 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com

IJMET
IAEME

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF A DOUBLE SLOPE SOLAR STILL WITH A LATENT HEAT STORAGE MEDIUM
Ajeet Kumar Rai *, Vivek Sachan and Maheep Kumar Department of Mechanical Engineering, SSET, SHIATS-DU Allahabad, U.P., India *E-mail raiajeet@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT Single basin solar still is a very simple solar device used for converting available brackish or water into fresh drinking water. This device can be fabricated easily with locally available materials. The maintenance is also cheap and no skilled labor is required. The device may be a suitable solution to solve drinking water problem but because of its low productivity it is not popularly used. Number of works are undertaken to improve the productivity of the still. The use of latent heat storage system using phase change material (PCMs) is an effective way of storing thermal energy and has the advantage of high energy density and the isothermal nature of the storage process. Double slope single basin solar still is experimented by adding a heat reservoir in the basin using Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate. It is a material which changes its phase during addition and removal of heat. It is observe that an increment of 33.5 % is observed in the collection of distillate when the still is used with PCM as Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate. Key Words: double Slope Solar Still, Phase Change Materials 1.INTRODUCTION Water is the primary source of life. Next to oxygen, fresh water is the most important substance for sustaining human life. Water shortage is a worldwide problem, where 40% of the world population is suffering from water scarcity [1]. Although Water is one of the most abundant resources on Earth, covering approximately three-quarters of the planet's surface. About 97% of the Earth's water is salt water in the oceans. 3% of all fresh water is in ground water, lakes and rivers, which supply most of that needed by humans and animals.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME However, rapid industrial-growth and the population explosion world-wide have resulted in a large escalation of the demand for fresh water. Added to this is the problem of pollution of rivers and lakes by industrial wastes and the large amounts of sewage discharged. On a global scale, man-made pollution of natural sources of water is becoming the single largest cause for fresh-water shortages. Besides the only inexhaustible sources of water are the oceans. Their main drawback, however, is the high salinity of such water. It would be attractive to tackle the water-shortage problem with desalination of this water, which may be mixed with brackish water increase the amount of fresh water and reduce the concentration of salts to around500 ppm [2]. Solar distillation has been practiced for many generations. All desalination methods require fossil fuel or electrical energy but solar distillation is one of many processes that can be used to produce fresh water by using the heat of the sun directly in a simple equipment to purify water. The equipment, commonly called a solar still [3,4]. Solar still is most simple device to get potable/fresh distilled water from impure water. Among other available designs of solar still, the Double Slope Solar Still is most popular. The construction and design of this solar still is simple. The problem is poor productivity. A large number of attempts are made to improve the productivity from solar still. Studies are performed to predict the performance of solar still [5]. Effect of variation of parameters on the total output is also studied by various researchers [6].They have analyzed the effect of water depth on the performance of DSS. Due to intermittent nature of solar energy, distillate production is not continuous and night time production is almost nil. By using energy storage mediums, distillate may be produced during non-Sunshine hours. These energy storage systems may store heat energy in two ways (i) Sensible Heat (ii) Latent Heat. Thermal energy can be stored as a change in internal energy of a material as sensible heat, latent heat or combination of these two. In sensible heat storage (SHS), thermal energy is stored by raising the temperature of a solid or liquid. SHS utilizes the heat capacity and the change in temperature of the material during the process of charging and discharging. The amount of heat stored depends on the specific heat of the medium, the temperature change and the amount of storage material [7]. Q= = (1) (2)

LHS is based on the heat absorption or release when a storage material undergoes a phase Change from solid to liquid or liquid to gas or vice versa. The storage capacity of the LHS system with a pcm medium is given by-

Q=

(3)

Q=

(4)

Due to the compactness of PCMs the latent heat is much higher than the sensible heat. These materials are still a point of interest for researchers. Lorsch et. al. [8], Lane et. al. [9] and
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME Humphries and Griggs [10] have suggested a wide range of PCMs that can be selected as a storage media. Latent Heat storage systems are having advantage of their isothermal nature of storing heat energy. Kuznik et. al [11] has given a good explanation of how PCM stores and releases latent heat. The external heat supplied to a PCM is spent in breaking the internal bonds of lattice and thereby it absorbs a huge amount of latent heat at phase temperature. Abhat et.al.[12] has given a detailed classification of PCMs along with their properties. Dinser and Rosen [13] have also exercised the same. A large number of phase change materials (organic, inorganic and eutectic) are available in any required temperature range. El-Sebaii et al [14] and Shukla et al [15] have used phase change material as a energy storage medium to study the performance of a single slope solar still. In the present study, performance of a double slope solar still with Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate as PCM has been investigated in outdoor conditions in the month of October. Thermophysical properties of Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate are given. Melting temperature 36.10C specific heat (solid) 1.34 kJ/kg0C, specific heat (liquid) 2.26kJ/kg0C, Latent Heat of fusion 147.0 kJ/kg, Thermal conductivity 0.464W/mK at 39.90C. 2. EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP AND PROCEDURE 2.1 Set-up Figure 1 shows the photograph of two Double Slope Solar Still of same size and shape. One DSS is without PCM and another DSS is having PCM in the basin. The DSS consist of a passive solar distillation unit with a glazing glass cover inclined at 260 having an area of 0.048m x 0.096 m. The tilted glass covers are of 3 mm thickness, Transmit solar energy and work as an insulator of heat. It works as a condensing surface for the vapor generated in the basin. Still basin, made up of Galvanized Iron, has an effective area of 0.72 m2. The basin of the distiller was blackened to increase the absorptive of the basin liner. A distillate channel was provided at each end of the basin for the collection of distillate output, a hole was drilled in each of the channels and plastic pipes were fixed through them with an adhesive (Araldite). An inlet pipe and outlet pipe was provided at the top of the side wall of the still and at the bottom of the basin tray for feeding saline water into the basin and draining water from still for cleaning purpose, respectively. All arrangements are made to make the still air tight. Water gets evaporated and condensed on the inner surface of glass cover. It runs down the lower edge of the glass cover. The distillate was collected in a bottle and then measured by a graduated cylinder. The distillate is collected from two sides of the still. Phase Change Material is filled in the tubes and placed in the basin of the still. Tubes are made of aluminum to offer little resistance to the heat transfer between water and PCM. Tubes are of dia 10 mm and length as that of the basin inner side. Thermocouples were attached in different locations of the still to record the temperatures of inside glass cover, water temperature in the basin and ambient temperature. All experimental data are used to obtain the internal heat and mass transfer coefficient for double slope solar still. The effect of use of phase change material is also studied by comparative analysis.

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME

Fig.1 Photograph showing experimental set-up (Double Slope Solar Still with and without PCM)

2.2 Procedure The experiments were conducted in the campus of Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences- Deemed University, Allahabad, India. All experiments were started at 08:30 AM at local time and lasted for 08.30 hours. Water, glass, water vapor and PCM temperatures were recorded with the help of calibrated Copper Constantan thermocouples having a least count of 10C. The ambient temperature is measured by a calibrated mercury (ZEAL) thermometer having a least count 10C. The distillate output was recorded with the help of a measuring cylinder of least count 1 ml. The solar intensity was measured with the help of calibrated solarimeter of a least count of 2 mW/cm2. The hourly variation of all above mentioned parameters were used to evaluate average values of each for further numerical computation.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME 3.PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE SOLAR STILL Energy balance equations are written for the different components of a double slope solar still without PCM in the basin[5], [6] and with PCM in the basin [14]. The hourly and daily productivity of solar still is Mewh = hewh (Tw-Tgin)/L Mewd = 24 hrsmewh The instantaneous efficiency of the solar still is: i = [ hewh (Tw-Tgin)/I (t)]x 100% d = [Mewd hew/(ApI)(t)]x 100% (7) (8) (5) (6)

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1000 Solar Intensity (W/m2) 900 800 700 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 Solar intensity East Solar intensity West

Time Of the Day (hr)

Fig. 2. Variation of solar intensity with time of the day Variation of solar intensity falling on the east and west side glass covers of the double slope solar still for a particular day (17-10-12) is shown in fig.2. It is observed that the solar intensity falling through east side glass cover is higher till 01:30 hrs. Maximum value is observed around11:00 hrs on east glass cover.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME
70 60 Temperature (C0) 50 40 30 20 10 0
Glass cover temp. East with PCM Glass cover temp. East without PCM

Time of the day (hr)

Fig.3 Variation of East glass covers temperatures of DSS with PCM and without PCM Variation of east glass cover temperatures of DSS with PCM and without PCM is shown in fig 3. It is observed that the DSS with PCM tubes will have higher glass cover temperature in comparison to that of without PCM. This difference is higher in afternoon session. This is due to thermal inertial effect produced by PCM tubes. This is also true for the west side glass cover. A slight rise in temperature of the west side glass cover with PCM is shown in fig.4. This little difference is due to low solar intensity on west side glass cover.
70 60 Temperature (C0) 50 40 30 20 10 0
Glass cover temp. West with PCM Glass cover temp. West without PCM

Time of a day (hr)

Fig. 4. Variation of West glass covers temperatures of DSS with PCM and without PCM

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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME
250 200 150 100 50 0 Time of the day (hr)
total output. with PCM Total output. without PCM

Distillate output (ml)

Fig.5.Variation of total distillate output from DSS with PCM and without PCM Hourly distillate output is measured in the daytime only from 08:30 AM till 5:00 PM. Last reading shows total distillate collected during 5:00 PM to 8:00 AM. From fig. 5 it is clear that output will increase due to use of PCM as heat reservoir. Total gain of 33.5% is observed in output. Where daytime gain is 34.7% and nocturnal gain is of 31.7%. 5. CONCLUSION This study explores the possibility of using latent heat energy storage mediums in conventional solar still to ensure the continuous production of fresh water even after sunset. Result shows that productivity increases by 30 to 35% with Zinc Nitrate Hexahydrate as PCM. This can be further improved by a PCM with high latent heat of fusion and increasing the mass of the PCM in the basin. REFERENCES [1]Abdullah S., Badranb O. & Abu-Khaderc M. M. (2008), Performance evaluation of a modified design of a single slope solar still. Desalination 219pp. 222230 [2]MalikMAS,Tiwari GN, Kumar A, Sodha MS.Solar distillation.Oxford: Pergamon Press,1985. [3]Tiwari, G.N., Tiwari, A.(2007), Solar Distillation Practice for Water Desalination Systems, Anamaya, New Delhi,. [4]Argaw N. ( 2001),"Renewable Energy in Water and Wastewater Treatment Applications". National Renewable Energy Laboratory [5] Shukla S.K. and Rai A. K. (2008), Analytical thermal modeling of double slope solar still using inner glass cover temperature Thermal Science,vol 12,(3), 139-152. [6] Rai Ajeet Kumar, Kumar Ashish and Verma Vinod Kumar (2012), Effect of water depth and still orientation on productivity of passive solar stillIJMET, vol 3, (2), 740-753. [7] Rai Ajeet Kumar, Kumar Ashish (2012), A Review on phase change materials and their applicationsIJARET, vol. 3,(2), 214-225.
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International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET), ISSN 0976 6340(Print), ISSN 0976 6359(Online) Volume 4, Issue 1, Jan - Feb (2013) IAEME [8] Lorsch HG, Kauffman KW, Denton JC, Thermal Energy Storage for Heating and Air Conditioning, Future energy production system. Heat Mass Transfer Processes; 1: pp 69-85 (1976). [9] Lane GA, Glew DN, Clark EC, Rossow HE, Quigley SW, Drake SS, et al. Heat of fusion system for solar energy storage subsystems for the heating and cooling of building. Chalottesville, Virginia, USA, 1975. [10] Humphries WR, Griggs EI. A designing handbook for phase change thermal control and energy storage devices. NASA Technical Paper, p. 1074, (1977). [11] Kuznik F., Virgone, J. and Noel, J.: Optimization of a phase change material wallboard for building use. Applied Thermal Engineering 28 (2008), 1291-1298. [12] A. Abhat, Low temperature latent heat thermal energy storage: heat storage materials, Solar Energy30, pp 313-332 (1983). [13] Dincer I., Rosen M.A. , Thermal energy storage, Systems and Applications John Willey and Sons Chichester (England), 2002. [14] El-Sebaii A. A., Al-Ghamdi A.A., Al-Hazmi F.S. and Faidah A.S. (2009), Thermal performance of a single basin solar still with PCM as a storage medium, Applied Energy, 86,1187-1195. [15] Al-Hamadani A.A.F. and Shukla S.K. (2011), Modeling of solar distillation system with phase change material(PCM) storage medium, thermal science,

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