Heat transfer coefficients and productivity of a single slope single basin solar still in Indian climatic condition: Experimental and theoretical comparison

A theoretical and experimental study was conducted at the central Indian location of Rewa, M.P., India (Latitude: 24°33′ 20.81′′ N, Longitude: 81°18′ 49.1′′ E). This paper presents a detailed comparison of the theoretical and the experimental results obtained for a single sloped basin type solar still. Results for different parameters such as basin water temperature, glass cover temperature, distillate output, evaporative, convective and radiative heat transfer coefficients and attenuation factor were obtained for basin water depths ranging from 2 cm to 10 cm. For solar still, daily distillate output decreased with increase in basin water depth. The theoretical value of daily efficiency for 2 cm and 10 cm basin water depth was around 52.83% and 41.75%, respectively, and for the same basin water depth, experimental daily efficiency was around 41.49% and 32.42% respectively. A sound agreement between the theoretical and the experimental results was observed.