Author : Sachin Amte, Vishal Athawale, Suraj Jayabhaye, Sudhir More

Different designs of solar stills have been investigated throughout world by different researchers. Solar stills of different designs have been investigated by many researchers. A new radiation model has been developed to improve the prediction of the performance of a single-slope solar still. An improved (new) Tubular Solar Still (TSS) was, therefore, designed in this paper to overcome those issues and to provide potable water for a few families or a small society in arid, remote and coastal areas. It can be installed near to a house for the purpose of reducing time and labor involved in carrying drinking water. An old TSS was designed using a vinyl chloride sheet as a cover material which was a little bit heavy, expensive and cannot be formed into a desirable size easily. In order to overcome these drawbacks, the new TSS was fabricated using cheap, durable and locally acquisitioned lightweight materials for practical use. Consequently, the weight and cost of the new TSS were noticeably reduced. These improvements also can help to assemble the new TSS easily in those areas. This paper describes the details of the design, fabrication, cost and water production analysis of the New Tubular Solar Still. The new TSS was made of cheap, durable, lightweight and locally available materials.

Keywords: Distillation,Solar Energy, Solar Stills.