Performance enhancements of conventional solar still using reflective aluminium foil sheet and reflective glass mirrors: energy and exergy analysis

Vanitha Selvaraj Chandrika; Mohammed El Hadi Attia; Athikesavan Muthu Manokar; Fausto Pedro Garcia Marquez; Zied Driss; Ravishankar Sathyamurthy

doi:10.1007/s11356-021-13087-2

Performance enhancements of conventional solar still using reflective aluminium foil sheet and reflective glass mirrors: energy and exergy analysis

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Feb 24. doi: 10.1007/s11356-021-13087-2. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Vanitha Selvaraj Chandrika¹, Mohammed El Hadi Attia², Athikesavan Muthu Manokar³, Fausto Pedro Garcia Marquez⁴, Zied Driss⁵, Ravishankar Sathyamurthy⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Avinashi road, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, 641407, India.
² Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of El Oued, 39000, El Oued, Algeria.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 600 048, India.
⁴ Ingenium Research Group, Universidad Castilla-La Mancha, Ciudad Real, Spain. faustopedro.grcia@uclm.es.
⁵ Laboratory of Electromechanical Systems, National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax, BP 1173, 3038, Sfax, Tunisia.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Arasur, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.

PMID: 33629165
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-13087-2

Abstract

Many researchers are seeking simple and successful solutions to increase the output from the solar distiller. In this research work, reflective mirrors and reflective aluminium foil sheet were fixed on inner surfaces of the single-slope solar distiller, leading to more water production. The presence of reflective mirrors and reflective aluminium foil sheet on inner surfaces of the solar distillate permits the reflection of solar radiation falling inside the basin. Experiments were carried out on three stills: the first distiller is conventional solar still with black painted walls (CSS-BPW); the second distiller is conventional solar still with reflective aluminium foil sheet walls (CSS-RAFW); and the third distiller is conventional solar still with reflective glass mirror walls (CSS-RGMW). The maximum total drinking water productions from the CSS, CSS-RAFW and the CSS-RGMW are 3.41, 5.1 and 5.54 kg/m², respectively. Compared to the CSS-BPW, the production of drinking water was increased by 68.57% when using the reflective glass mirrors and 48.57% when using the reflective aluminium foil sheet.

Keywords: Aluminium foil sheet; Reflective glass mirrors; Solar energy; Storage energy.