Experimental Study of a Conventional and Hybrid Solar Still

*Hemin Thakkar, Sanjay Patel, Hitesh Panchal and P.V. Ramana* 

## **Abstract**

 The simple solar still has a limited output of pure water but its basic concept is very important for understanding desalination using solar energy. The yield of the solar still can be improved by using different energy storing materials in the basin and attaching different types of solar collectors. In this research, the flat plate collector and photovoltaic collector were used together to improve the output and performance. The output of the hybrid device was compared to an active solar still and conventional solar still. This research also included the effects of different energy storing materials in the output of a conventional solar still.

**Keywords:** solar still, hybrid still, desalination, FPC, PVC

#### **1. Introduction**

 The solar still is a simple device used for desalination. It works on the hydrological cycle found in nature. It consists of a solar radiation absorbing basin, in which a constant amount of seawater is enclosed in a V-shaped glass cover as shown in **Figure 1**. The sun's rays pass through the glass cover and are absorbed by the blackened absorbing bottom of the basin. As the water is heated, its vapor pressure is increased. The resultant water vapor is condensed on the underside of the glass cover and runs down into the troughs, which conduct the distilled water to the reservoir.

The basic concept of passive solar still with its output was discussed by Murugavel et al. [1]. In this research, passive solar output was tested at the Government Polytechnic Ahmadabad and compared with the above research.

 An active solar still with FPC also played a very important role in increasing the output of still as more heat was supplied through the FPC. Srithar et al. [2] demonstrated the effect of FPC on the output of a still. A hybrid solar still with FPC and PVC gave the best results in producing clean water from saline water as heat was added to the water by direct heating as in the conventional still and heating with FPC and PVC. The electricity produced by the PVC was used for heating the saline water and running the electric motors needed for supplying water to the still. In this preparative research, an experiment was carried out with three different configuration of stills and interesting results were obtained.

*Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Innovations in Automation...* 
