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International Journal of Ambient Energy
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Energy, exergy and entropy analysis of a single-slope
floating-cum-tilted wick-type solar still
V. Manikandan
a
, K. Shanmugasundaram
a
, S. Shanmugan
a
, B. Janarthanan
a
& J.
Chandrasekaran
b
a
Department of Physics , Karpagam University , Eachanari Post, Coimbatore , 641021 , India
b
Department of Physics , SRMV College of Arts and Science , Coimbatore , 641 020 , India
Accepted author version posted online: 23 Jan 2013.Published online: 08 Mar 2013.
To cite this article: V. Manikandan , K. Shanmugasundaram , S. Shanmugan , B. Janarthanan & J. Chandrasekaran ,
International Journal of Ambient Energy (2013): Energy, exergy and entropy analysis of a single-slope floating-cum-tilted
wick-type solar still, International Journal of Ambient Energy, DOI: 10.1080/01430750.2012.759149
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01430750.2012.759149
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International Journal of Ambient Energy, 2013
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01430750.2012.759149
Energy, exergy and entropy analysis of a single-slope oating-cum-tilted wick-type solar still
V. Manikandan
a
, K. Shanmugasundaram
a
, S. Shanmugan
a
, B. Janarthanan
a
and J. Chandrasekaran
b
a
Department of Physics, Karpagam University, Eachanari Post, Coimbatore 641021, India;
b
Department of Physics,
SRMV College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore 641 020, India
(Received 9 January 2012; nal version received 1 December 2012)
In this article, an attempt has been made to design, fabricate and analyse a single-slope oating-cum-tilted wick-type solar
still in terms of energy, exergy and entropies of the still. A new simplied analytical expression for instantaneous exergy
eciency of the proposed still by incorporating the variation of instantaneous energy and entropy of the still has been written
and solutions have been found. A comprehensive analysis of the system has been presented by determining the exergy
destroyed by internal irreversibility due to the variation of entropy and energy during the working hours of the system.
Keywords: exergy analysis; wick-type solar still; theoretical results; energy; exergy and entropy
1. Introduction
The major problems of many developing countries are the
demand for good quality of drinking water. One of the
promising options for elimination of the major operating
cost of distillation plant is the direct use of solar energy. The
solar distillation is a technique to produce potable water,
which can be carried out in two modes, namely passive
solar distillation and active solar distillation.
Tiwari, Dimri, and Chel (2009) have found the eect
of inner and outer surface of the glass cover temperatures
on the performance of the solar still with two conditions
and that thermal eciency increases with the increase in
exergy eciency. Kumar and Tiwari (2011) have inferred
that the energy and exergy eciency of a shallow basin
passive solar still reduced by 21.8% and 36.7% due to the
diminished absorptivity with time.
A steady-state and transient analysis of a solar still has
been carried out by Torchia-Nunez, Porta-Gandara, and
Cervantes-de Gortari (2008) and concluded that in steady
state, the maximum exergy destroyed up to 615 W/m
2
out
of 935 W/m
2
and in a transient state, the solar irradiance
of 6 h daylight duration enhanced the irreversibility rate.
Sharaf, Nafey, and Garcia-Rodriguez (2011) have studied
about the exergy and thermo-economic cost analysis of
Multi-eect Distillation (MED) desalination processes and
reported that exergy costing and thermo-economic balance
of anyunit is associatedwitheachexergystreamandexergy,
cost balances.
The energetic and exergetic performances of the
quadruple-eect evaporator unit have been studied by
Sogut, Ilten, and Oktay (2010) and it had been shown
that the total exergetic improvement potential of the
still achieved is 128 kW and the energetic and exergetic

Corresponding author. Email: mmmooki@yahoo.co.in

eciencies are eective and destructive only in the rst
eect of the still. Hou et al. (2007) have inferred that
in the multi-eect humidicationdehumidication desali-
nation process, the solar collector and Humidication-
Dehumidication distillation technology (HDD) process
have lower exergy eciency and the water rejected has a
large exergyloss. Tchanche et al. (2010) have recommended
the simple Rankine engine for designingthe reverse osmosis
desalination system by the exergy analysis.
A review on energy minimisation strategies and renew-
able energy utilisation for desalination has been carried out
by Subramani et al. (2011) and it was concluded that the
forward osmosis and ion concentration polarisation are the
promising innovative technologies for desalination. Banat
and Jwaied (2008) have found that the exergy eciencies
of the compact and large membrane distillations units with
respect to the solar energy collected were 0.3% and 0.5%
and for the exergy of solar irradiance, the exergy eciencies
were 0.01% and 0.05%. Kahraman and Cengel (2005) have
determined the highest exergy destruction of 77.7% in the
MSFdistillationplant andreducedbyincreasingthe number
of ashing units. The minimum work required for distil-
lation processes inuenced by the properties of incoming
saline water and outgoing pure water has been interpreted
by Cerci 2002.
Mistry, Lienhard, and Zubair (2010) have analysed the
eect of entropy on the performance of humidication
dehumidication desalination cycles and found that the
minimised specic entropy generation or entropy gener-
ation results with the maximised gained output ratio. Wang
and Min 2011 have carried out the modelling and analysis of
membrane osmotic distillation using non-equilibrium ther-
modynamics and indicated that the total entropy generation
2013 Taylor & Francis
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rate can be reduced by decreasing and increasing the mem-
brane eective thermal conductivity and the systemaverage
temperature. Fratzscher and Stephan (2003) have suggested
the waste energy usage and entropy economy to optimise
the technological processes for sustainable development.
Cimpean and Pop 2011 have studied the entropy genera-
tion of a mixed conversion owin an inclined channel lled
with porous medium and found that the lower and upper
walls have asymmetrical proles about the centre line and
the same value into the middle of the channel. The entropy
budget of the atmosphere by Peixoto et al. (1991) for the rate
of entropy generation by the various diabatic processes are
highest in the equatorial region and the generated entropy
is much larger in low latitudes than in middle and high lati-
tudes due tothe greater release of latent heat andthe stronger
absorption of solar radiation. Bi et al. (2010) have studied
the minimisation of entropy generation for charging and
discharging processes in a gas-hydrate cool storage system
and concluded that the total minimum entropy generation
corresponding to the optimal conguration decreased by
8.2% compared with the normal situation. The analytical
study to determine the heat conduction and entropy transfer
through semi-nite and nite media under the inuence of
combined periodic heat ux and convective boundary con-
dition has been carried out by Khaled (2008) and found that
the rate of entropy transfer to both media reaches maximum
values at critical times lower than the time needed for both
the applied heat ux and the rate of heat transferred to reach
their maximum values.
In this study, exergy, entropy and energy analysis of
single-slope oating-cum-tilted wick-type solar still has
been carried out to derive the simplied analytical expres-
sion and solution for the instantaneous exergy eciency in
terms of change in entropy and instantaneous energy e-
ciency for the comprehensive analysis during the daylight
hours in Karpagam University, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu,
India.
2. Design of the system
Figure 1(a) and (b) shows the schematic diagramand photo-
graph of a single-slope oating-cum-tilted wick-type solar
still of area 1 m
2
. In the proposed system, the blackened jute
wick is spread along the tilted portion and the remaining part
of the wick has been prepared in a corrugated shape pattern
on the thermocole sheet of thickness 0.025 m and oated in
the water reservoir. The evaporation of water takes place in
both oating and tilted wick comprising an eective evap-
oration area of 1 m
2
. The system is provided with 0.05 m
thermal insulation on the sides and bottom to trap the solar
radiation within it. The slope of the tilted portion is 13

,
which is equal to the latitude of the location. The system is
made vapour tight to prevent leakage of thermal energy.
Experiments were conducted from 9 a.m. to 17 p.m.
from22 September 2011 to 23 October 2011 and the energy,
exergy and entropies have been calculated for one of the
typical days, i.e. 27 September 2011. The average solar
radiation for the typical day is above 700 W/m
2
. Glass and
wick temperatures were recorded with the calibrated cop-
per constantan thermocouples (range between 100

C and
300

C) and the distillate yields were observed every 30 min.

The solar radiation monitor and digital thermometer have
been used to measure the solar radiation intensity and ambi-
ent temperature. The spectral range of the solar radiation
monitor varies from 305 to 2800 nm and sensitivity of 7
14 V/W/m
2
and the accuracy of the digital thermometer
is 0.07

C.
Energy balance equations for the inner surface of the
glass cover, outer surface of the glass cover, moist air and
wick surface have been written in terms of solar radiation
and ambient temperature. The equations have been solved
to obtain the analytical solutions and used to evaluate the
thermal performance of the still.
3. Energy analysis
The thermal modelling of the single-slope oating-cum-
tilted wick-type solar still has been proposed based on the
energy balance equations for the temperature elements of
the system and written as
Inner surface of the glass cover (T
gi
):

g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
+h1(T
w
T
gi
)l
w
b
w
+h
2
(T
m
T
gi
)l
m
b
m
= h3(T
gi
T
go
)l
gi
b
gi
. (1)
Equation (1) is solved to obtain
T
gi
=

g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
+h1(T
w
T
gi
)l
w
b
w
+h
2
(T
m
T
gi
)l
m
b
m
+h
3
(T
gi
T
go
)l
gi
b
gi
h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
. (2)
Outer surface of the glass cover (T
go
):

g
I (t)
g
l
g
b
g
+h3(T
gi
T
go
)l
gi
b
gi
= h4(T
go
T
a
)l
go
b
go
.
(3)
Equation (3) is solved to obtain
T
go
=

g
I (t)
g
l
g
b
g
+h3T
gi
l
gi
b
gi
+h4T
a
l
go
b
go
h3l
gi
b
gi
+h4l
go
b
go
. (4)
For moist air (T
m
)
I (t)
g

g
+h(T
w
T
m
)l
w
b
w
= h2(T
m
T
gi
)l
m
b
m
+h5(T
m
T
a
)l
m
b
m
. (5)
Equation (5) is solved to obtain
T
m
=
I (t)
g

g
+h(T
w
)l
w
b
w
+h2(T
gi
)l
m
b
m
+h5(T
a
)l
m
b
m
hl
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h5l
m
b
m
.
(6)
For the evaporating wick surface

g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
= M
w
dT
w
dt
l
w
b
w
+h1(T
w
T
gi
)l
w
b
w
+h(T
w
T
m
)l
w
b
w
+h6(T
w
T
a
)l
w
b
w
.
(7)
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International Journal of Ambient Energy 3
Figure 1. (a). Schematic diagram of the wick-type passive solar still and (b) photograph of the experimental still.
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4 V. Manikandan et al.
Substituting the value for T
gi
in Equation (7), the
equation becomes

g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
= M
w
dT
w
dt
l
w
b
w
+h1
_
_
_
_
T
w

_
_
_
_

g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
+h1(T
w
T
gi
)l
w
b
w
+h2(T
m
T
gi
)l
m
b
m
+h3(T
gi
T
go
)l
gi
b
gi
h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
_

_
_
_
_
_
l
w
b
w
+h(T
w
T
m
)l
w
b
w
+h6(T
w
T
a
)l
w
b
w
. (8)
After a suitable rearrangement, the equation takes the form
as

g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
+
h1
g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)
+T
m
_
h1h2l
m
b
m
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)

h
M
w
_
+T
go
_
h3l
gi
b
gi
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)
_
+
h6T
w
M
w

h6T
a
M
w
=
dT
w
dt
+T
w
_
h
1
+h
M
w

h1l
w
b
w
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)
_
.
(9)
Equation (9) resembles the form
dy
dx
+Py = Q, (10)
P =
_
h1 +h
M
w

h1l
w
b
w
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)
_
,
Q =
g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
+
h1
g
I (t)
g

g
l
g
b
g
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)
+T
m
_
h1h2l
m
b
m
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)

h
M
w
_
+T
go
_
h3l
gi
b
gi
M
w
(h1l
w
b
w
+h2l
m
b
m
+h3l
gi
b
gi
)
_
+
h6T
w
M
w

h6T
a
M
w
.
The solutions of the Equation (10) is given by
T
w
e
_
P,dt
=
_
Q(t), e
_
P,dt
dt +c. (11)
when t = 0, T
w
= T
wi
, we obtain
c = T
wi

Q
P
Substituting the value for c in Equation (11), the solution
for T
w
can be written as
T
w
=
Q
P
_
T
wo

Q
P
_
e
Pt
. (12)
The mass of the distillate yield obtained is given by
M
ewgi
=
h
ewgi
(T
w
T
gi
)
L
30 60
_
kg
m
2
30 min
_
. (13)
The instantaneous eciency of the wick-type passive solar
still is given by

i
=
M
ewgi
L
_
I (t) dt
100. (14)
3.1. Exergy analysis
The most appropriate tool for optimisation and thermody-
namic analysis process is exergyanalysis. The methodology
is a combinationof rst andsecondlaws of thermodynamics
accompanied with the environmental conditions. An exergy
analysis is similar to an energy analysis, but takes into
account the quality of the energy as well as the quantity.
The exergy balance of any system can be represented as
(Total exergy entering) (Total exergy leaving)
(Total exergy destroyed)
= (change in total exergy of the system)
Ex
in
Ex
out
Ex
destroyed
= Ex.
In other words, exergy can be simply expressed as the ratio
of exergy output associated with the product of the single-
basin single-slope wick-type solar still (i.e. distillate) to the
exergy input given to the same still (i.e. radiation from the
sun)
Ex =
Exergy output from the wick type single basin
single slope solar still
Exergy input to the wick type single basin
single slope solar still
Ex =
Ex
out
Ex
in
,
Ex =
Ex
evaporation
Ex
sun
. (15)
Therefore, the maximum eciency ratio for evaluating
exergy of solar radiation obtained to the proposed still at
temperature T
sun
can be expressed as

Ex
in
I (t), in(t)

Ex
sun
I (t), sun(t)
=
_
1
4
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
+
1
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
4
_
, (16)
where T
s
is the surface temperature of the sun = 6000 K.
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International Journal of Ambient Energy 5
Figure 2. Schematic exergy ow diagram of the still.
The evaporative heat ux is required to evaporate water
from the wick surface of area A
w
, and can be written as
Q
ewgi
= h
ewgi
A
w
(T
w
T
gi
). (17)
Therefore, the exergy output of the system can be obtained
as
Ex
out
= Ex
evaporation
= h
ewgi
A
w
(T
w
T
gi
)
_
1
T
a
T
w
_
.
(18)
With the exergy input and output for the components of the
still, the instantaneous exergy eciency of the system can
be expressed as
Ex
instan
=

Q
ewgi
_
1
T
a
T
w
_

EX
sun
=
h
ewgi
A
w
(T
w
T
g
)
l
g
b
g
l(t)
g

_
1
T
a
T
w
_
_
1
4
3

_
T
a
T
s
+
1
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
4
__. (19)
Ex
instan
=
i

_
_
_
_
T
w
T
a
T
w

_
1
4
3

_
T
a
T
s
+
1
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
4
__
_

_
,
Ex
instan
=
i

1
z

(T
w
T
a
)
T
w
. (20)
where,
z =
_
1
4
3

_
T
a
T
s
+
1
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
4
__
.
The exergy ow diagram is represented in Figure 2. The
numbers from 0 to 7 indicate the exergy ow of the system
in a numerical order.
In the still, the brackish water enters the distillation sys-
tem at 303 K and 3000 ppm salinity. These values are taken
as the conditions of dead state of the system.
The mass fractions of the salt and water in the water
tank lled with brackish water are W
s
= 0.003 and w
w
=
1 W
s
= 0.997. Therefore, the exergy of a owstream()
can be determined from the following equation:
= h h
0
T
0
(s s
0
). (21)
Therefore, the specic enthalpy and specic entropy of the
ow stream can be found out by the following formulae.
For ideal solution, the enthalpy and entropy of the mixture
are the sum of the enthalpy and entropy of its individual
components and they are given by
H = m
s
h
s
+m
w
h
w
and S = m
s
s
s
+m
w
s
w
,
where
h = w
s
h
s
+w
w
h
w
and S = w
s
s
s
+w
w
s
w
.
Therefore,
h
s
= h
s0
+c
ps
(T T
0
),
s
s
= s
s0
+c
ps
ln
_
T
T
0
_
Rln
_
P
P
0
_
.
(22)
As there is no pressure for incompressible substance, so the
above equation can be written as
s
s
= s
s0
+c
ps
ln
_
T
T
0
_
. (23)
Therefore, by determining the values of specic enthalpy
and specic entropy of a ow stream, the exergy of a ow
stream () can be obtained from the following equation:
= h h
0
T
0
(s s
0
). (24)
Table 1 gives the thermodynamic values for the owstream
at initial temperature during the early working hour of the
system.
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Table 1. Thermodynamic values of dierent streams at initial temperature.
Specic Specic Specic heat
S. Temperature Enthalpy h Entropy S enthalpy entropy Gas capacity
No. Stream (K) (kJ/kg K) (kJ/kg K) (kJ/kg K) (kJ/kg K) constant R (kJ/kg K)
1 0 (brine water) 303 167.71 6.701 213.4053 0.4013 0.287 1.006
2 1 (tank water) 303 167.71 6.701 213.4053 0.4013 0.287 1.006
3 2 (wick surface) 325 145.554 6.769 217.1452 0.7276 0.287 1.008
4 3 (moist air) 327 143.538 6.775 225.5059 0.7532 0.287 1.008
5 4 (inner glass cover) 323 147.569 6.762 208.7855 0.7018 0.287 1.008
6 5 (condensate) 323 147.568 6.762 208.7855 0.7018 0.287 1.008
7 6 (brine out) 305 165.697 6.708 133.5655 0.4621 0.287 1.007
8 7 (output) 303 167.71 6.701 213.4053 0.4013 0.287 1.006
9 8 (outer glass cover) 321 149.584 6.759 200.4262 0.6758 0.287 1.008
The complete exergy ow of the system depends on the
amount of exergyavailable inthe systemtothe exergygoing
out and the exergy destroyed inside the system. The exergy
destroyed in the system can be evaluated by the equation.
3.2. Exergy destroyed brine
Exergy destroyed in the brine water is
Ex
destroyed,brine
= Ex
in,brine
w
min,brine
, (25)
where
Ex
in,brine
= A
g
I (t)
_
1
4
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
+
1
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
4
_
and
w
min,brine
=
RT
0
M
w
__
M
w
rM
m
1
__
x
s
, brine ln
x
s
, brine
x
s
+ x
w
brine ln
x
w
, brine
x
w
_
ln x
w
_
,
%Ex
destroyed,brine
=
Ex
destroyed,brine
Ex
in
. (26)
3.3. Exergy destroyed in moist air
The exergy destroyed in moist air is
Ex
destroyed,moist air
= Ex
in,moist air
w
min,moist air
, (27)
where
Ex
in,moist air
= A
g
I (t)

_
1
4
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
+
1
3

_
T
a
T
s
_
4
_
and
w
min,moist air
=
RT
0
M
w
__
M
w
rM
m
1
_

_
x
s
, moist air ln
x
s
, moist air
x
s
+ x
w
moist ln
x
w
, moist air
x
w
_
ln x
w
_
%Ex
destroyed,moist air
=
Ex
destroyed,moist air
Ex
in
(28)
4. Entropy analysis
The entropy of a system is associated with the presence
of irreversibility. The entropy generation takes place in a
system due to the irreversible nature of heat transfer and
viscosity eects, within the uid and at the solid bound-
aries. The largest boundary uxes or entropy is associated
with the emission of long-wave radiation. On the planetary
scale, the mean outgoing ux of entropy at the top of the
atmosphere is found to be about 22 times larger than the
mean incoming ux of entropy through solar radiation. The
entropy production terms involve the release of latent heat
and the absorption of solar radiation and the destruction
is mainly accomplished through cooling by the outgoing
long-wave radiation.
The entropy and specic entropy of the proposed still
have been coined under the exergy conditions of the still.
Therefore, the increase and decrease in entropy during the
working hours of the still and the conversion of vapours in
the still can be found by the following equations.
The change in entropy during the variation of tempera-
ture is given by
s1 =
_
T
2
T
1
dQ
T
= mc
_
T
2
T
1
dT
T
(29)
where m = mass of the water in (kg), c = specic heat
of water (KJ/kg K), T
2
= nal temperature of water in a
particular interval of time (K), T
1
= initial temperature of
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International Journal of Ambient Energy 7
water (273 +initial temperature, K) and L = latent heat of
water (J/kg).
Therefore, the increase in entropy of a system can be
given by
s1 = 2.3026 mc (log
10
T
2
log
10
T
1
). (30)
The change in entropy when saline is converted into
vapour at a particular temperature is given by
s2 =
dQ
T
=
mL
T
, (31)
where m = mass of the saline water (kg) and L = latent
heat of water (J/kg)
Hence, the total entropy of the system can be found by
nding the total increase in entropy of the system
s = s1 +s2. (32)
5. Results and discussion
5.1. Energy analysis
The energy analysis based on Dunckles law of thermody-
namics completely ignores the quality of the energy and
only tracks the quantity and does not give the quantitative
assessment of the various losses occurring in the parameters
of a system. Therefore, a better method for energy account-
ing is exergy analysis, which is based on both the rst and
second law of thermodynamics.
Figure 3 shows the variation of solar irradiance and
ambient temperature with respect to time of the proposed
still during the daylight hours from 9:00 a.m. to 17:00 p.m.
From the graph, it is observed that the tilted solar radi-
ation available on the glass cover gradually increases and
reaches a maximumof 1215 W/m
2
at 12 p.m. and gradually
decreases till 17 p.m. The maximum ambient tempera-
ture of 40

C is recorded at 12.30 p.m. due to the reduced

Figure 3. Variation of tilted solar radiation with respect to time
of the day.
Figure 4. Variation of convective heat transfer coecients with
respect to time of the day.
humidity. The observed climatic parameters, i.e. solar radi-
ation and ambient temperature and design parameters of
the proposed system, have been used for the evaluation of
convective, radiative and evaporative heat transfer coe-
cients occurring inside the still. Agraph has been drawn for
the convective heat transfer coecient from the wick sur-
face to moist air inside the enclosure, wick surface to inner
surface of the glass cover, moist air to the outer surface of
glass cover, inner surface to outer surface of the glass cover
and outer surface of the glass cover to ambient and shown
in Figure 4. From the curve, it is seen that the convective
heat transfer coecient from moist air inside the still to the
inner surface of the glass cover (h
cmgi
) is larger than the
other convective heat transfer coecients throughout the
daylight hours. This is due to the fact that the convection of
heat by air molecules to the condensing surface will be more
compared with convection by solids and liquid surfaces.
Moreover, the reduced air gap between the evaporating and
condensing surface, i.e. 0.1 m increases the convection of
heat energy from the evaporating to condensing surface.
The convective heat transfer coecient from the outer
surface of the glass cover to the ambient (h
cgoa
) is more
since the glass cover receives the latent heat of vaporisation
released by the vapours when condensed and also the wind
moves the latent heat from the outer surface of the glass
cover. Convective heat transfer coecient from the inner
surface to outer surface of the glass cover, wick surface to
moist air and wick surface to the inner surface of the glass
cover has moderate values during the daylight hours.
The variations of various radiation heat transfer coe-
cients have been drawn with respect to working hours of the
system and depicted in Figure 5. The radiative heat transfer
coecient from the moist air molecules inside the system
dominates the other because of the saturation of the water
vapour. In the system, it is observed that when the convec-
tive heat transfer is large, the radiative heat transfer will
be small and vice versa. Figure 6 shows the variation of
evaporative heat transfer coecient from the wick surface
to inner surface of the glass cover, and it is observed that
the evaporation increases gradually up to noon and slowly
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Figure 5. Variation of radiative heat transfer coecients with
respect to time of the day.
Figure 6. Variations of evaporative heat transfer coecients with
respect to time of the day.
decreases till the evening hours. Since the wick surface is
always wet due to the increased capillary action through-
out the day and the small air gap between evaporating
and condensing surface, distillation process proceeds in an
ecient manner.
The total heat transfer coecient for various streams
have been evaluated and depicted in Figure 7. Among all
the total heat transfer coecients, the total heat coecient
from the air to inner surface of the glass cover is high and
governs the distillation process to provide more distillate
yield.
The analytical solutions for the energy balance equa-
tions of the dierent temperature elements of the still have
been used to evaluate the inner and outer surface of the glass
cover, wick surface temperature, moist air, instantaneous
distillate yield and eciency. To appreciate the numerical
results, it has been validated with the experimental observa-
tions and depicted in Figures 810. In Figure 8, it has been
observed that the theoretical results of the inner surface of
the glass cover, moist air and wick surface temperature are
slightly more than the experimental results and theoretical
results of the outer surface of the glass cover are slightly
Figure 7. Variations of total heat transfer coecients with
respect to time of the day.
Figure 8. Theoretical and experimental values of temperature
elements of the still.
Figure 9. Theoretical and experimental results of mass of the
distillate yield.
lower than the observations due to the unexpected climatic
conditions in the location during the working hours of the
day.
Figures 9 and 10 show the variations of theoretical
and experimental results of instantaneous distillate yield
and eciency of the system. The numerical results are in
agreement with the observations with least error. Moreover,
the distillate yield and instantaneous eciency gradually
increases and reaches a maximum of 0.348 kg/m
2
and
39.98% at 13 p.m. Then, it decreases gradually till the
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International Journal of Ambient Energy 9
Figure 10. Variation of theoretical and experimental eciencies.
Figure 11. Variation of Ex-in and Ex-out and exergy eciency
with respect to time.
evening hour. The daily daylight distillate yield from9 a.m.
to 17 p.m. was 3.33 kg/m
2
and night-time collection from
17 p.m. to 9 a.m. are 0.700 kg/m
2
. Therefore, over 24 h
cycle, the proposed system provides 4.33 kg/m
2
.
5.2. Exergy analysis
The solar radiation that reaches the wick-type solar still is
transformed into heat over the surface of the wick. Figure 11
shows the curves of exergy in, exergy out and exergy e-
ciency of the still evaluated by using Equations (16), (18)
and (20) (Kumar and Tiwari 2011). It is found that the
exergy eciency of the still is 22.52% during the time
period 12:30 p.m. to 13:00 p.m. It is due to the fact that the
distillate yield provided by the system during that time is
higher. Figure 12 shows the characteristic curves of instan-
taneous energy and exergy eciencies of the proposed still,
with eective absorptivity (0.05), transmittance (0.78) and
cover tilt angle (13

). The instantaneous exergy eciency

follows the same trend with values smaller than that of the
energy eciency as the eciency of the systemis a function
of instantaneous distillate yield. Hence, the instantaneous
energy eciency inuenced the instantaneous exergy e-
ciency to a larger extent. During the discharge of brine and
distillate yield in late and early working hours of the sys-
tem, the exergydestroyedis minimumandmaximumduring
peak sunny hours.
Figure 12. Variations of exergy eciency and instantaneous
energy eciency with time.
Figure 13. Variations of the inner glass cover temperature and
total entropy with time.
The exergy ow diagram of the proposed still is shown
in Figure 2. The exergy ow of the still can be interpreted
only when the exergy destroyed in the system has been
found. The exergy destroyed in the still has been found
for the moist air and brine water by using Equations (21)
(24) with the initial values presented in Table 1. The exergy
destroyed and the percentage of energy destroyed have been
found fromEquations (25), (26) (Cerci 2002) and the values
obtained for the brine water and moist air parameters are
3.352, 7.088 kW and 0.48%, 0.95 %, respectively.
5.3. Entropy analysis
Another important characteristic of the proposed thermo-
dynamic model is that the total entropy of the system. The
total entropy of the particular temperature element is the
sum of increase in entropy and change in entropy and has
been calculated by using Equations (31), (32). Figures 13
15 show the variation of entropy with respect to time of the
day for three components of the proposed model, namely
inner surface temperature of the glass cover (T
gi
), moist air
(T
m
) and wick surface temperature (T
w
).
The minimum and maximum values of the total entropy
for the varying temperature of the inner surface of the glass
cover, wick surface and moist air are at 17 p.m. and 14 p.m.
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Figure 14. Variations of moist air temperature and total entropy
with time.
Figure 15. Variations of wick temperature and total entropy with
time.
It is foundthat the total entropyof eachcomponent increases
with increase in temperature and vice versa. This change in
entropy inuences the natural distillation process during the
working hours of the system.
6. Conclusion
The following conclusions have been drawn for the pro-
posed system from the analysis and are as follows:
(1) The instantaneous energy eciency of the still
obtained is 39.39% during 12:3013:00 p.m.
(2) The theoretical results obtained for the energy
eciency show a close agreement with the experi-
mental results.
(3) The average exergyeciencyof the systemis found
to be 22.52%and with the exergy destroyed the still
has been comprehensively analysed.
(4) The inuence of entropy for the exergy calculation
must be considered for the complete analysis of the
system.
(5) The percentage of exergy destroyed in the brine
water and moist air components is found to be
0.48% and 0.95%, respectively.
(6) It has been conrmed that the energy eciency
dominates exergy eciency of the system with the
inuence of entropy.
(7) During the peak sunny hours, maximum exergy is
destroyed due to faster evaporation of water from
the evaporating surface.
(8) The analysis in terms of energy, exergy and entropy
can be used to simulate the system for large-
scale installations and for the better optimisation
of design parameters in the location.
Nomenclature
b
g
breadth of the glass (m)
b
gi
breadth of the inner surface of the glass cover (m)
b
m
breadth of the moist area (m)
b
w
breadth of the wick surface (m)
c
ps
specic heat capacity of salt (kJ/kg

C)
k
i
thermal conductivity of the insulation material
(W/m
2
C)
l
g
length of the glass (m)
l
gi
length of the inner surface of the glass cover (m)
l
m
length of the moist area (m)
l
w
length of the wick surface (m)
m
s
molar mass of the salt (kg/k mol)
m
w
molar mass of water
s
s
mole fraction of the salt
s
s0
entropy of salt (kJ/kg K)
s
w
mole fraction of water
w
s
weight fraction of the salt in wick
w
w
weight fraction of the water in wick
h specic enthalpy of a stream (kJ/kg)
h total heat transfer coecient from wick surface to
moist air (W/m
2
C)
h1 total heat transfer coecient from wick surface to
inner surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h2 total heat transfer coecient from moist air to inner
surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h3 total heat transfer coecient from inner to outer
surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
K)
h4 total heat transfer coecient from outer surface of
the glass cover to ambient (W/m
2
C)
h5 total heat transfer coecient from bottom to
ambient (W/m
2
C)
h6 total heat transfer coecient from bottom to
ambient (W/m
2
C)
h
0
specic enthalpy of the stream at the dead state
(kJ/kg)
h
cgigo
convective heat transfer coecient from inner to
outer surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h
cgoa
convective heat transfer coecient from outer
surface of the glass cover to ambient (W/m
2
C)
h
cmgi
convective heat transfer coecient from moist air
to inner surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h
cwgi
convective heat transfer coecient from wick
surface to inner surface of the glass cover
(W/m
2
C)
h
cwm
convective heat transfer coecient from wick
surface to moist air (W/m
2
C)
h
ewgi
evaporative heat transfer coecient from wick
surface to inner surface of the glass cover
(W/m
2
C)
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h
ewgi
evaporative heat transfer coecient from wick
surface to inner surface of the glass cover (W/m
2

C)
h
ewm
evaporative heat transfer coecient from wick
surface to moist air (W/m
2
C)
h
rgigo
radiative heat transfer coecient from inner to
outer surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h
rgoa
radiative heat transfer coecient fromouter surface
of the glass cover to ambient (W/m
2
C)
h
rmgi
radiative heat transfer coecient from moist air to
inner surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h
rwgi
radiative heat transfer coecient from wick surface
to inner surface of the glass cover (W/m
2
C)
h
rwm
rradiative heat transfer coecient from wick
surface to moist air (W/m
2
C)
h
s
enthalpy of salt in wick (kJ)
h
s0
enthalpy of salt (kJ/kg K)
h
w
enthalpy of water in wick (kJ)
r recovery ratio (%)
s specic entropy of the stream (kJ/kg)
s
0
specic entropy of the stream at the dead state
(kJ/kg)
A
g
area of the glass cover (m
2
)
A
w
area of the wick surface (m
2
)
I (t)
g
tilted solar radiation over the glass cover (W/m
2
)
L
i
thickness of the insulation (m)
M
dwt
mass of the distillate output (kg/m
2
)
M
ewgi
mass of evaporative heat transfer coecient from
wick surface to the inner surface of the glass
cover (W/m
2
C)
M
m
molar mass of the mixture (kg/kmol)
M
w
mass of the water in the wick surface
(kg/m
2
/30 min)

Q
ewgi
rate of evaporative heat transfer coecient from
wick surface to the inner surface of the glass
cover (W/m
2
C)
T
0
dead state temperature of the still (

C)
T
a
ambient temperature (

C)
T
gi
temperature of the inner surface of the glass cover
(

C)
T
g0
temperature of the outer surface of the glass cover
(

C)
T
m
moist air temperature (

C)
T
s
surface temperature of the sun (

C)
T
w
temperature of the wick surface (

C)
R gas constant (kJ/Kmol)
L latent heat of vaporisation (J/kg)
T temperature of the stream (

C)
Symbols

g
absorptivity of the glass cover

g
temperature of the glass (

C)

i
instantaneous energy eciency of the system
exergy ow of the stream (kJ/kg)
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