Performance study of modified basin-type single-slope solar distiller

In this communication, performance of modified basin-type single-slope solar distiller (MBSSSD) is present. The effect of design and operational parameters like solar radiation, water, basin, inner and outer glass temperatures, wind velocity, water depth, and total hourly yield per day were assessed. A modified solar still has been introduced with less capital investment to enhance the productivity. The modification includes fabrication of a solar still with locally available material in the market, i.e., fiber-reinforced plastic sheet and acrylic. The east, west, and south walls of the MBSSSD are made transparent. With this modification, a significant increase in the heat input, distillate output have been obtained. No metal was used to design the MBSSSD during fabrication, which leads to a cost-effective development in the solar desalination techniques. Experiments were done on MBSSSD on typical days at different water depths in the month of April, 2017, at Allahabad (latitude 25°27ʹN and longitude 81°44ʹE), Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. Yield production was 3200 ml/m 2 /day and 2756 ml/m 2 /day at 1 cm and 2 cm depths, respectively. A 14% increase in distillate gained with the decrease in water depth from 2 cm to 1 cm.