Original Article

Proc IMechE Part C:

J Mechanical Engineering Science
Thermoeconomic analysis of 0(0) 1–20
! IMechE 2020

solar distillation system with Article reuse guidelines:

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stepped-corrugated absorber plate DOI: 10.1177/0954406220943227

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Vikrant P Katekar1 and Sandip S Deshmukh2

Abstract
Solar still is a cost-effective and environment-friendly device to convert saline water into potable by employing solar
energy in developing countries; however, it has an inferior thermal performance. This paper presents an attempt to
improve energy efficiency and productivity of solar still by improving the design of the absorber plate. Modified solar still
has been tested with a stepped-corrugated absorber plate. During the experimentation, it is found that the thermal
performance of modified solar still is superior to conventional solar still. The average basin saline water temperature and
the temperature difference between saline water and condenser glass cover are higher for stepped-corrugated solar still
by 19.67 and 105.75%, respectively, as compared with conventional solar still. The average energy efficiency, exergy
efficiency and productivity are found to be 259.61, 418.61 and 147.93% higher for stepped-corrugated solar still.
Economic analysis indicates that the cost of distil water production is approximately Rs. 1.73 (0.023 $) per litre, and
the payback period is 12 months, with carbon credits earned are approximately Rs. 11,998 (157.76 $).

Keywords
Waterborne disease, desalination, renewable energy, solar still, economic analysis, environ-economic analysis

Date received: 24 April 2020; accepted: 28 June 2020

water wells and bore wells. But, nowadays, these

Introduction
It is well known that water is the nectar present on the
earth. All living beings depend on water for their sur-
vival. Water may be classified as freshwater (salt con-
tent less than 1%), brackish water (salt content less
than 3%) and saline water (salt content more than
3%).1 Ninety-seven percent of available water on
the earth is highly saline found in the oceans and
seas. Two percent of the water is frozen found in gla-
ciers and the Polar Regions. Remaining only one per-
cent of the water is available for drinking and other
utilities.2 Safe drinking water and sanitation are fun-
damental civil rights, and it is the 2030 agenda
for sustainable development (SDG-6).3 The United
Nations World Water Development Report
(WWDR, 2019) states that water requirements are
increasing worldwide by about 1% per annum from
the year 1980. WWDR (2018) states that nearly six
billion people on the globe will suffer from safe drink-
ing water scarcity by 2050. It is due to rising drinking
water demand, diminution in available water
resources and an increase in water pollution.
WWDR (2019) states that in developing countries,
3 out of 10 people do not have access to safe drinking
water. They mostly rely on water from rivers, ponds,
sources are contaminated with harmful bacteria and
viruses. People unknowingly drink such infected
water and suffer from many waterborne diseases.4
World Health Organisation (WHO) says that diar-
rhoeal diseases are the main cause behind illness and
death in all developing countries. Globally, 2.2 million
people die from diarrhoea per year. Out of this, 90%
of deaths are among the children.5,6
Desalination is a water treatment process to con-
vert saline water into potable.7 This is accomplished
by using membranes and thermal processes. Thermal
desalination is the oldest method of desalination. It is
found economical for seawater desalination as it
works on the principle of heating, evaporation and
condensation.8 In membrane technology, saline
water is forcefully passed through the membrane to
1
Department of Mechanical Engineering, SB Jain Institute of Technology
Management and Research, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology &
Science, Pilani, Hyderabad, India
Corresponding author:
Vikrant P Katekar, SB Jain Institute of Technology Management and
Research Fetri, Katol Road, Nagpur 441501, India.
Email: vpkatekar@gmail.com
2 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
separate salt from water. This technology is found
suitable for brackish water desalination.9 Many coun-
tries are stressed to use desalination plants to supply
potable water to the communities.10 The energy
required for desalination is usually extracted from
fossil fuels, which are depleting day by day and not
environment friendly.11 In this scenario, renewable
energy is the energy for the future.12 In time to
come, desalination systems will be dependent on
renewable energy such as solar, wind and geother-
mal.13 Renewable energy is the best option to drive
desalination plants in the villages and remote areas
facing energy crises.14 Solar energy is the most prom-
inent renewable energy to use for desalination.15 It
can be used directly for heating and evaporation of
saline water (i.e. thermal desalination), or it can be
converted into electrical energy which can be used
for electrically driven desalination systems such as
reverse-osmosis (RO). Solar distillation is also a pro-
mising method for water purification. Conversion of
brackish/saline water into potable water by using
solar energy is known as solar distillation.16 Many
developing countries like India facing energy crises
are blessed with an abundant amount of solar
energy.17,18 The apparatus used for solar distillation
is acknowledged as a solar still. It works similar to
how nature makes rain (hydrological cycle). Figure 1
illustrates the components of single-basin single-slope
passive solar still (generally referred to as conven-
tional solar still).19
As shown in Figure 1, conventional solar still con-
sists of an insulated saline water basin integrated with
a blackened metal absorber plate and covered by a
transparent glass cover. Solar radiations pass through
glass cover and heat up the saline water in the basin.
Vapours thus formed move upward towards the glass
cover, just like the clouds formation and movement in
the atmosphere. These vapours reject heat at the glass
cover and condense, forming tiny water droplets of
the pure aqua underside the glass cover similar to
rain formation in the atmosphere. Condensate is col-
lected in water collecting trough. Thus, solar still
Figure 1. Principle of solar still.19
provides pure and safe water for drinking at an eco-
nomical cost, without the burning of fossil fuel or the
consumption of electricity. Solar still is simple in con-
struction, no sophisticated materials are required and
the semi-skilled person can easily fabricate. It is the
noiseless, vibration-free and eco-friendly device.20 The
chemical quality parameters for water obtained from
solar still are found to be within the limit recom-
mended by the WHO standard for potable water.21
Literature shows that people know solar still from
pre-historic times. History of art and pictograph
shows that ancient Egyptians used a solar distillation
system for drinking water production. Carlos Wilson,
a Swedish engineer, commissioned the first distillation
plant in Las Salinas, Chile in 1872. The use of solar
distillation systems was found to be increased at sev-
eral places after Second World War.22
Solar still is mainly classified as passive and active
type (Figure 2). In passive solar still, heating and
evaporation of saline water take place using solar
radiation falling on it; however, active solar still
uses an external device such as flat plate collector,
solar pond or solar photo-voltaic panels to pre-heat
the saline water in addition to direct heating using
solar energy. Active solar still is found to be more
productive but expensive as compared to passive
still. Passive solar still is economical to use for domes-
tic applications whereas active solar still is useful for
industrial application.23
Despite all those advantages of a solar still, it is a
well-known fact that it yields very low distillate and
has poor energy efficiency. Literature shows that con-
ventional solar still (Figure 1) has daily productivity
of 2–3 kg/m2/day and energy efficiency of 20–25%.25
These are the factors behind why solar still is neither
popular nor available commercially today.
Researchers all over the globe are trying to develop
energy-efficient solar still for different applications.26
Literature shows that apart from all other factors, the
deepness of saline water in the basin, the orientation
of the absorber plate and its surface area are three
significant factors that decide the productivity of
Figure 2. Classification of solar still.24
Katekar and Deshmukh 3

solar still. Lower water depth and larger solar energy
collection areas enhance the yield of still. To operate
solar still, at lower water depth, investigators used
stepped (cascade) absorbers, and to provide a larger
surface area, corrugated surfaces were used. Both
arrangements demonstrated a notable increase in
productivity.
Review of literature on stepped and corrugated
solar still
The first stepped solar still was tested by Radhawan in
the year 2004.27 The author incorporated the latent
heat storage system inside the still and got a daily
yield of 4.6 L/m2 per day with an energy efficiency
of 57%. Deshmukh et al.28 compared the perform-
ance of stepped and conventional solar still. They
got minimum and maximum energy efficiency of
35.27 and 72.38%, respectively. Kabeel et al.29 inves-
tigated the thermal performance of stepped still and
recorded 33.5% energy efficiency. Abdullah30 tested
stepped solar still attached with a solar air heater
and condenser glass cover cooling system. They inves-
tigated that the efficiency of still was 30.4%, and it
was increased by 112% utilising solar air heater and
condenser glass cover cooling. Zoori et al.31 tested
stepped-weir type still and evidenced the highest
energy and exergy efficiency as 83.3 and 10.5%,
respectively. Rajaseenivasan et al.32 tested double-
basin double-slope solar still with steps in the upper
basin and got an 85% increase in productivity. Yadav
and Kumar33 experimented on stepped-weir solar still
and got a 60–80% increment in productivity. Muftah
et al.34 tested stepped still with reflector, fins and
external condenser. They recorded daily distillate
yield 8.9 kg/m2/day. Hedayati-Mehdiabadi and
Sobhnamayan35 integrated photovoltaic thermal
(PV/T) collector to stepped solar still and found
a 20% increase in freshwater productivity. Sarhaddi
et al.36 got the greatest energy and exergy efficiency as
76.69 and 6.53%, respectively, for weir-cascade solar
still. Gananaraj et al.37 tested double-basin single-
slope solar still with steps in the upper basin with
reflector, flat plate collector and mini-solar pond.
They recorded a 127.65% improvement in productiv-
ity. Rashidi et al.38 experimented stepped solar still
with aluminium oxide nanoparticles and obtained a
22% increase in productivity. Xiao et al.39 coupled
PV/T collector to stepped solar still and found a
51.7% increase in productivity. Bouzaid et al.40 got
7 kg/m2/day distil water production using stepped
solar still. Dhurwey et al.41 experimented double-
basin double-slope solar still with steps in the upper
basin and paraffin wax phase change material loaded
underside the absorber plate in the lower basin. They
reported 4.59 L/day productivity with 27.21% ther-
mal efficiency.
Likewise, several investigators tested corrugated
solar still. A corrugated absorber plate provides
more surface area for heating and evaporation of
saline water in the basin. The first corrugated solar
still was tested in the year 2011 by Omara et al.42
and got 41% thermal efficiency. Selvendiran et al.43
reported 20–30% productivity enhancement using a
corrugated absorber plate. Matrawy et al.44 men-
tioned that the productivity of solar still was increased
by 34% using corrugated wick-type absorber plate.
Shalaby et al.45 reported a 12% increase in product-
ivity using v-corrugated solar still with paraffin wax
phase change material placed underside the absorber
plate. Kassem46 tested wick-corrugated solar still and
got 42% maximum energy efficiency. Elshamy and
El-Said47 tested tubular solar still fitted with the semi-
circular corrugated absorber. They reported a 26.47,
25.9 and 23.7% augmentation in daily yield, energy
and exergy efficiency, respectively. Table 1 shows the

Table 1. Modification in stepped and corrugated solar still the first time reported in the literature.

Year of modification
S. no. reported first time Modification in solar still (stepped or corrugated solar still) Reference
27
1. 2004 Stepped solar still with the latent heat storage system.
42
2. 2011 Corrugated solar still.
30
3. 2013 Stepped solar still with a solar air heater and condenser glass cover
cooling system.
31
4. 2013 Stepped and weir type solar still.
32
5. 2013 Double-basin double-slope solar still with steps in the upper basin.
44
6. 2015 Corrugated wick type solar still.
45
7. 2016 Corrugated solar still with paraffin wax phase change material.
35
8. 2017 Stepped solar still coupled with photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) collector.
37
9. 2017 Double-basin single-slope solar still with steps in the upper basin with
reflector, flat plate collector and mini-solar pond.
34
10. 2018 Stepped solar still with reflector, fins, and external condenser.
38
11. 2018 Stepped solar still with aluminium oxide nanoparticles.
47
12. 2018 Tubular solar still fitted with a semicircular corrugated absorber.
4 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
trend of design modifications in solar still fitted with
either a stepped or corrugated absorber plate.
Literature review shows that some investigators
have tested stepped solar still, and some have assessed
solar still with corrugated absorber plate with the sole
aim to increase the productivity of solar still and got
encouraging experimental results. If stepped and cor-
rugated absorber combined in solar still, then it avails
advantages of both stepped as well as corrugated solar
still. Such a design is not experimented by any inves-
tigator to date. With this contemplation, solar still
with a stepped-corrugated absorber plate has been
designed, fabricated and tested based on thermo-
dynamic, thermoeconomic, economic and environ-
economic parameters under the climatic condition of
Nagpur city (21.14 N, 79.08 E) (M.S.), India. This
paper describes the design, thermal modelling, experi-
mental investigations, economic and environ-eco-
nomic analysis for solar still built-in with a stepped-
corrugated absorber plate.
Methodology
After a detailed literature survey, the research prob-
lem for the proposed work has been finalised. Various
dependent and independent variables are decided.
Initially, for the yearly average value of solar irradi-
ation at Nagpur city and desired distillate output per
day, the size of the solar still basin has estimated. Two
experimental solar stills are fabricated (conventional
and stepped-corrugated) and tested. Based on the
mathematical modelling of a solar still (stated in
‘Mathematical analysis’ section), coding is done in
MATLAB to estimate the saline water, glass and
absorber plate temperature. Experimental investiga-
tions, as well as arithmetic computations, have been
executed on several days for the climatic condition of
Nagpur city. The following are the footsteps used for
the analysis of the still:
. Hourly solar irradiation, ambient temperature and
wind velocity data on a particular day have been
taken from satellite using the tool PVCDROM
developed by Solar Power Lab, Arizona State
University, United States, at the climatic condition
of Nagpur city.
. Vapour temperature is measured from the experi-
mental setup.
. Fixed parameters such as mass, area, absorptivity,
transmissivity, reflectivity and specific heat for dif-
ferent components are defined.
. For MATLAB program, initial input values of
temperature are taken from the experimental setup.
. Overall, internal, external and conductive heat
transfer coefficients have been estimated.
. A theoretical computation for basin water tem-
perature is carried out using the expression of
basin water temperature (equation (5)).
. Using calculated basin water temperature, glass
and absorber plate temperature have been evalu-
ated using equations (12) and (13).
. The theoretical temperatures acquired from math-
ematical modelling have been authenticated by
experimental data.
. The experimental observations have been recorded
for several months.
. Using the developed thermal model of energy and
exergy analysis, the performances of both the solar
stills are investigated.
. Experimental results of present work are compared
with the experimental results of other researchers’
available in the literature on solar still integrated
with either stepped or corrugated absorber plate.
. To predict the yield and size of a still, temperature
and yield correction factor are evaluated using the
MATLAB program.
. Finally, the economic and environ-economic
analysis has been carried out to check the feasibility
of the developed system for commercial purposes.
Mathematical analysis
Energy analysis of the solar still
Energy or thermodynamic analysis gives equations for
estimation of the temperature of different components
of the solar distillation system such as condenser glass
cover, saline water and absorber plate. The following
postulations are used in the development of the energy
balance equation:19,35,36,48
(a) The analysis is under a steady-state condition.
(b) No vapour leakage from the still.
(c) Negligible energy loss from the sidewalls of the
still.
(d) Uniform saline water and condenser glass cover
temperature.
(e) Reflected radiations from the ground are not
considered.
(f) Negligible absorber plate thickness.
The fraction of solar radiation incident on the con-
denser glass cover is reflected in the atmosphere, and
the remaining amount enters the solar still. Some
amount of this penetrated energy is absorbed by the
glass itself, and the remaining quantity reaches the top
of the saline water in the basin. A small amount of
energy is reflected from the top surface of the water,
and the remaining amount reaches the absorber
plate which is located at the bottom of saline
water. The maximum amount of energy is absorbed
by the absorber, and the fraction of energy is
reflected. Energy from the absorber plate is trans-
ferred to saline water for heating and evaporation.
However, a small quantity of the heat is lost to sur-
roundings by conduction through the bottom and
Katekar and Deshmukh 5

sidewalls lagging.49 Figure 3 shows the energy distri- Absorber plate. Energy balance for absorber plate situ-
bution within the solar still. ated at the bottom of saline water is expressed as follows
 
Figure 4 illustrates the thermal resistance network   kins  
for solar still. It is an electrical analogy used to calcu- p g w IðtÞAp ¼ h1 Ap Tp  Tw þ Ap Tp  Tb
xins
late the heat transfer rate through the various compo-  
  dTp
nents of solar still. þ mp Cp ð4Þ
Energy balance for the different components of dt
the solar still based on the assumption is as
follows:19,35,36,48

Glass cover. Energy balance for condenser glass cover

is expressed as follows
 
g IðtÞAg þ h2 Aw Tw  Tg
   
¼ hcga Ag Tg  Ta þ hrgs Ag Tg  Tsky
  ð1Þ
  dTg
þ mg Cg
dt

Heat transfer coefficient h2 is the sum of convec-

tion, radiation and evaporation heat transfer coeffi-
cients between saline water and the inner surface of
the condenser glass cover

h2 ¼ hrw þ hcw þ hew ð2Þ

Saline water. Energy balance for saline water in the

basin is estimated as follows
 
g w IðtÞAw þ h1 Ap Tp  Tw
 
  dTw ð3Þ
¼ h2 Aw Tw  Tg þ ðmw Cw Þ Figure 4. Thermal resistance network for solar still.
dt

Figure 3. Energy transfer mechanism for solar still.

6 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Based on the above equations, inner conden- Energy efficiency. The energy/thermal efficiency of a
ser glass cover, basin saline water and absorber solar still is the ratio of the rate of evaporative heat
plate temperature over the period are estimated as transfer to the solar irradiation on the absorber plate.
follows:19,50 It is stated as
From the energy balance equation, saline water P
temperature is given by mew hfg
th ¼ P ð14Þ
3600Ap IðtÞ
f ðtÞ
Tw ¼ ð1  eat Þ þ TwðiÞ eat ð5Þ The theoretical distil water productivity is given by
a
 
hew Aw Tw  Tg 3600
where mew ¼ ð15Þ
hfg

UL
a¼ ð6Þ Top loss coefficient. The radiative and convective heat
mw  Cpw
loss from the condenser glass cover to the surrounding
atmosphere is required to discover the minimum
eff  IðtÞ þ UL  Ta thickness required of glass. They can be computed
f ðtÞ ¼ ð7Þ
mw  Cpw as follows:
Total energy loss from condenser glass cover
Effective absorptivity is calculated as towards the atmosphere is stated as

h1 h2 qtga ¼ qrga þ qcga ð16Þ

eff ¼ 0b  þ 0w þ 0g  ð8Þ
h1 þ htb h2 þ htga

The fraction of solar flux absorbed by absorber Side and bottom loss coefficient. The energy is lost from
plate, saline water and glass cover is given by the absorber plate to the atmosphere through the
0p ¼ p  ð1  g Þð1  g Þð1  w Þ insulation of the sidewalls and bottom of the basin
ð9Þ by conduction, convection and radiation. The heat
 attenuation factor loss for the bottom surface of the solar still can be
written as follows
0w ¼ w  ð1  g Þð1  g Þð1  w Þ
ð10Þ qtba ¼ htba ðTb  Ta Þ ð17Þ
 ½1  attenuation factor
hsa ¼ htba ðAs =Ab Þ ð18Þ
0g ¼ g ð1  g Þ ð11Þ

The attenuation factor for different water depths is Overall heat transfer coefficient. The overall heat transfer
given in Table 2.19 coefficient for the top, bottom and side surfaces are
The inner side glass cover and absorber plate tem- expressed as
perature are given by
UL ¼ htga þ htba ð19Þ
0g IðtÞ þ h2  Tw þ UL  Ta
Tg ¼ ð12Þ
h2 þ htga Exergy analysis of solar still
0p IðtÞ þ h1  Tw þ htb  Tb The exergy balance equation for different components
TP ¼ ð13Þ of solar still is written to find irreversibility. It is esti-
h1 þ htb
mated as
Table 2. Attenuation factor for different water depth.19 X X
Ir ¼ Exloss þ Exdes ð20Þ
Water depth (m) Attenuation factor
Exergy balance for the different components of the
0.02 0.6756 solar still is as follows.
0.03 0.6441
0.04 0.6185 Saline water. Exergy balance for saline water is as
0.05 0.6124 follows
0.06 0.5858
dExw
0.08 0.5648 Irw ¼ Exdes,w ¼ w g Exsun þ Expw  Exew 
dt
0.10 0.5492
ð21Þ
Katekar and Deshmukh 7

The equation for the estimation of Exsun, Exp-w and

Exew is given in Appendix 1.

Glass cover. Exergy balance for condenser glass cover

is expressed as

Irg ¼ Exga þ Exdes,g ¼ g Exsun þ Exew

dExg ð22Þ
þ Exrw 
dt
The equation for the estimation of Exrw is given in
Appendix 1. Figure 5. Stepped-corrugated solar still.

Absorber plate. Exergy balance for the absorber plate is

obtained from the following equation the horizontal. The size of the saline water basin is
taken as 520 mm  520 mm, with a depth of 320 mm.
Irp ¼ Exdes,p ¼ p g w Exsun  Expw The outer casing of still is made from the 8-mm thick
dExp ð23Þ water-resistant plywood. The inner sides are covered
 Expins  with the layer of highly reflective aluminium sheet to
dt
concentrate the solar radiation on saline water. In the
The equation for the estimation of Exp-ins is given conventional solar still, the absorber plate is flat; how-
in Appendix 1. ever, it was v-corrugated in the modified solar still
with five identical steps. The width of each tray
Exergy efficiency. The exergy efficiency of the solar still on the step is 10 cm, and the depth is 2 cm with
is defined as the ratio of the evaporative exergy to the v-inclination of 45 . The trough is attached to the
net input sun exergy. It can be written as sidewall to collect the condensate after the evap-
oration–condensation process. The outlet of the
Exout Exew trough is connected to the storage container using a
ex ¼ ¼ ð24Þ
Exin Exsun flexible plastic pipe. K-type thermocouples are used
for the temperature measurements at various loca-
tions such as glass surface, absorber plate, saline
water and bottom surface. Figure 6 shows an actual
Relationship between energy and exergy efficiency photograph of solar stills.
The relation between energy and exergy efficiency is
stated as
Results and discussion
 
1  TTwa þ273 Both the experimental setups have been tested at the
Ap þ273
ex ¼ th h    i ð25Þ same time, and corresponding values of the ambient,
Ag 1 Ta þ273 4
1þ 3 6000  4 Ta þ273
3 6000
glass cover, saline water, absorber plate temperature
and solar irradiation are recorded for a couple of
months from morning 10 am to evening 5 pm at
Nagpur city (21.14  N, 79.08  E), M.S., India. The
Experimental setup depth of water is kept as 2 cm in both stills. As the
The experimental setup is designed for daily distil evaporation process begins, vapours move upward.
water production of 1.5 kg/day. The available period They reject heat at the glass cover and condense.
of sunshine is taken as 8 h. Considering latent heat of The distillate water droplets are sliding down on the
evaporation as 2257 kJ/kg, the quantity of heat glass plate under the influence of gravity and get col-
required for heating and evaporation has been esti- lected in the water collection trough. With the help of
mated as 3.8 MJ/day. The average solar energy inci- the flexible pipe, the distil water is transferred to the
dent on the Nagpur city (21.14 N, 79.08 E) is taken as storage tank. Experimental results have been com-
470 W/m2/day. The surface area of the absorber plate pared with the theoretical results. Experimental
has been calculated as 0.27 m2. Two experimental results are found close to theoretical results with the
setups (conventional and stepped-corrugated) are fab- percentage error of 9.19, 1.73 and 14.19% in average
ricated for this basin area. Figure 5 shows the sche- saline water, absorber plate and glass cover tempera-
matic of stepped-corrugated solar still. ture, respectively. From the recorded experimental
The absorber plate is made up of a copper sheet of observations, thermodynamic and thermoeconomic
1 mm thickness painted with dull black paint to analyses have been carried out to evaluate the thermal
increase its energy absorption rate. The condenser performance of both solar stills. Figure 7 shows the
glass cover is 4 mm thick and fixed inclined 22 with actual photograph of the experimental setups.
8 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Figure 6. Conventional and stepped-corrugated solar still.
Figure 7. Experimental setup.
The list of constants used for theoretical and
experimental investigations are given in Table 3.
These values have been used for theoretical calcula-
tion (MATLAB simulation), thermodynamic and
thermoeconomic analyses of solar stills.
Figure 8 shows a variation in saline water tempera-
ture on a particular day. At 11 am, the temperature
difference between saline water and atmosphere for
conventional solar still is 12.3  C; however, it is
18.3  C for stepped-corrugated solar still. The max-
imum temperature difference is recorded as 37.6 and
23.6  C for stepped-corrugated and conventional solar
still, respectively, at 2 pm. These results demonstrate
that the larger energy is absorbed by the saline water
in the stepped-corrugated still as compared to conven-
tional still. It is due to efficient heating of saline water
using stepped-corrugated absorber plate, lower con-
vection loss between the saline water surface and the
inner surface of the glass cover, and lower saline water
depth. Even at 5 pm, the temperature of saline water is
10  C higher in stepped-corrugated still. The average
temperature difference for a day is found to be
64.42% higher for stepped-corrugated solar still as
compared to conventional solar still.
The temperature difference between saline water
and condenser glass cover is the driving force for
the evaporation–condensation process in solar still.
Larger temperature difference ensures better evapor-
ation and consequently, larger productivity. Figure 9
shows that stepped-corrugated solar still sustains
higher temperature difference as compared with con-
ventional solar still throughout the day. During the
morning, it is 4.8 and 1  C; in the afternoon, and it is
19.1 and 8.4  C for stepped-corrugated and conven-
tional solar still respectively. As depicted in Figure 8,
saline water temperature is considerably higher
for stepped-corrugated still; consequently, the higher
temperature difference between saline water and
Katekar and Deshmukh 9

Table 3. List of constants used for theoretical and

experimental calculations.

Component Parameter Value

2
Glass cover Area (m ) 0.341
Absorptivity 0.050
Mass of glass (kg) 2.242
Specific heat capacity (J/kg  C) 840
Reflectivity 0.050
Transmissivity 0.90
Emissivity 0.94
Density (kg/m3) 2500
Thickness (m) 0.004
Thermal conductivity (W/m k) 1.03
Absorber plate Area (m2) 0.270
Figure 9. Variation in the temperature difference between
Mass (kg) 5.675
saline water and condenser glass cover.
Specific heat capacity (J/kg k) 386
Absorptivity 0.90
Density (kg/m3) 7800
Thermal conductivity (W/m k) 386
Thickness (m) 0.001
Saline water Area (m2) 0.270
Reflectivity 0.050
Absorptivity 0.050
Specific heat capacity (J/kg  C) 4180
Density (kg/m3) 1027
Thermal conductivity (W/m k) 0.613
Emissivity 0.95
Transmissivity 0.9
Depth (m) 0.02

Figure 10. Variation in absorber plate temperature on

16 March 2020.

evaporation of water. Therefore, higher absorber

plate temperature is always desirable. Figure 10
shows the variation in absorber plate temperature
on a particular day. It shows that the temperature
of the absorber plate in stepped-corrugated solar
still is much higher than the conventional one. This
is due to the absorption of more energy for the fol-
lowing reasons:

. Its position is almost parallel to glass cover;

Figure 8. Variation in saline water temperature on 16 March
2020.
condenser glass cover is recorded. The average tem-
perature difference for stepped-corrugated solar still is
146.6% higher than the conventional still.
The absorber plate is the principal component
of solar still. It provides energy for heating and
. Constant and lower interspacing between absorber
plate and glass cover;
. Steps on absorber maintain lower water depth and
. The corrugated surface provides additional surface
area for solar energy collection.
For stepped-corrugated solar still, the maximum
value of the absorber plate temperature is recorded
as 67.4  C. The average absorber plate temperature
10 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

is 26.26% higher in stepped-corrugated still than con- value is recorded as 6.06 and 3.10% for the stepped-
ventional still. corrugated and conventional still, respectively. The
Glass cover condenses vapours by transferring its higher exergy efficiency of stepped-corrugated solar
heat to the environment. Hence, its lower value (close still indicates that it is more competent in utilising
to the atmosphere) is desirable for higher heat solar energy.
exchange and a greater condensation rate. An average Figure 14 shows the variation in hourly productiv-
vapour temperature for stepped-corrugated and con- ity of solar stills on a particular day. The highest
ventional solar still is 44.2 and 47.2  C, respectively. yield is recorded as 0.21 and 0.18 kg/h for stepped-
As stepped-corrugated solar still operates at a com- corrugated and conventional solar still. The cumula-
paratively higher temperature; consequently, its tive yield of distilling water is 0.92 and 0.38 kg/day
glass cover temperature is also higher, as shown in for stepped-corrugated and conventional solar still,
Figure 11. Minimum glass cover temperature is rec- respectively.
orded as 45.5 and 43.3  C; however, its maximum Figure 15 shows the variation in the daily yield of
value is recorded as 47.1 and 42.8  C for stepped- solar stills for several days. Maximum productivity is
corrugated and conventional solar still, respectively. recorded as 3.43 and 1.41 kg/m2/day for stepped-
The average glass cover temperature is 7.4% higher in corrugated and conventional solar still, respectively.
stepped corrugated solar still than conventional still. The average productivity is found as 3.38 and 1.33 kg/
The energy efficiency of any system indicates m2/day for stepped-corrugated and conventional solar
how much less energy is used by the system to
perform a particular task. Figure 12 shows the vari-
ation in energy efficiency on a particular day for step-
ped-corrugated and conventional solar still. It shows
that the energy efficiency of stepped-corrugated still is
much higher than that of conventional still through-
out the day, due to its higher solar energy collection
and higher utilisation of collected energy for heating
and evaporation of saline water. On a particular day,
energy efficiency reaches the maximum value of
66.66% and 14.08% for stepped-corrugated and con-
ventional still, respectively.
Exergy efficiency (sometimes called second law effi-
ciency) indicates the effectiveness of the energy con-
version system comparative to its performance in
reversible states. Exergy is the highest useful work
that can be taken out of the system when it comes
to equilibrium with its environment. Figure 13
shows that the exergy efficiency of stepped-corrugated
still is significantly higher than conventional solar still
Figure 12. Variation in energy efficiency on 16 March 2020.
due to better utilisation of collected solar energy for
heating and evaporation of saline water. Its maximum

Figure 11. Variations in condenser glass cover temperature

on 16 March 2020. Figure 13. Variation in exergy efficiency on16 March 2020.
Katekar and Deshmukh
still, respectively. The average daily productivity is
found higher for stepped-corrugated solar still by
147.93% as compared with the conventional solar still.
Table 4 presents the average experimental observa-
tions recorded from solar stills. It shows that saline
water, glass cover, absorber plate temperature and
daily productivity for stepped-corrugated solar still
are much higher than conventional solar still. The fol-
lowing could be the reasons why the performance of
stepped-corrugated solar still is better as compared to
the conventional solar still:
. The absorber plate is almost parallel to glass cover;
consequently, it has better absorption of solar
energy;
. Due to corrugation on the absorber plate, contact
surface area between the plate and saline water is
larger, which results in higher heat transfer
between them;
. Higher absorber plate temperature results in better
heating of saline water in the basin;
. The distance between the glass cover and saline
water surface in the basin is nearly constant, and
Figure 14. Hourly yield variation.
Figure 15. Daily yield variation.
11
it is considerably less than the conventional solar
still; therefore, convection loss inside the stepped-
corrugated solar still is lower.
Table 4 illustrates the average values of several per-
formance parameters of solar stills over the complete
span of testing. As demonstrated in Table 4, the aver-
age temperature difference between saline water and
glass cover is 105.75% higher for stepped-corrugated
solar still than conventional solar still. The higher
operating temperature of the absorber plate, as well
as saline water, elevates the convective and radiative
heat transfer rate. This can be easily depicted using
enhanced values of heat transfer coefficients.
Convective, evaporative and radiative heat transfer
coefficient is 35.27, 82.84 and 5.92% higher for
stepped-corrugated solar still. This shows that in
stepped-corrugated solar still, the heat transfer rate
is appreciably higher. The average energy efficiency
is 31.48 and 8.76% for the stepped-corrugated and
conventional solar still, respectively, which is
259.61% higher for stepped-corrugated solar still.
Average exergy efficiency is 2.40% for stepped-corru-
gated still indicating its better ability of solar energy
utilisation as compared to conventional still. The
highest irreversibility is found in the absorber plate
for both solar stills; however, its value is lower for
stepped-corrugated solar still. These results illustrate
that stepped-corrugated still has better utilisation of
energy for heating and evaporation of saline water,
and hence it is more energy-efficient and productive
than conventional solar still.
Table 5 compares the productivity augmentation
for the present and other solar stills fitted with
either a stepped or corrugated absorber plate used
by several researchers. Tabulated results show that
the use of combined stepped-corrugated absorber is
advantageous as enhancement in productivity for this
solar still is worth mentioning. This arrangement
shows the biggest improvement in productivity
(147.93%) as compared with many other passive,
12 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Table 4. Average values of a performance parameter of solar stills over the complete span of testing.

S. No. Parameter Stepped-corrugated still Conventional still

1. Saline water temperature ( C) 54.10 45.21

2. Absorber plate temperature ( C) 58.71 47.49
3. Condenser glass cover temperature ( C) 42.99 39.81
4. The temperature difference between saline water and glass cover ( C) 11.11 5.40
5. Convective heat transfer coefficient for saline water (W/m2K) 2.20 1.62
6. Evaporative heat transfer coefficient for saline water (W/m2K) 21.42 11.71
7. Radiative heat transfer coefficient for saline water (W/m2K) 6.33 5.98
8. Energy efficiency (%) 31.48% 8.76%
9. Exergy between glass to air (W) 4.47 2.68
10. Evaporative exergy for saline water (W) 6.97 1.27
11. Radiative exergy for saline water (W) 0.31 0.07
12. Exergy efficiency (%) 2.40% 0.46%
13. Exergy between absorber plate and water (W) 56.48 14.65
14. Exergy between absorber plate and air (W) 22.17 9.71
15. Irreversibility in condenser glass cover (W) 21.55 15.80
16. Irreversibility of saline water (W) 61.97 25.66
17. Irreversibility in absorber plate (W) 130.50 185.78

Table 5. Comparison of present work with other researchers’ work.

Type of Type of absorber Improvement in

S. No. Author(s) solar still plate Short description of solar still productivity (%)

1. Shalaby et al.45 Passive Corrugated V-corrugated solar still with 12

paraffin wax phase change
material placed underside the
absorber plate.
2. Hedayati-Mehdiabadi Hybrid Stepped Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) 20
and Sobhnamayan35 collector coupled to stepped
solar still.
3. Rashidi et al.38 Passive Stepped Stepped solar still with alumi- 22
nium oxide nanoparticles.
4. Elshamy et al.47 Passive Corrugated Tubular solar still fitted with the 26.47
semicircular corrugated
absorber.
5. Selvendiram et al.43 Passive Corrugated Single-basin solar still. 30
6. Matrawy et al.44 Passive Corrugated Corrugated wick type solar still. 34
7. Xiao et al.39 Hybrid Stepped Photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) 51.7
collector coupled to the
stepped solar still.
8. Yadav and Kumar33 Passive Stepped Stepped-weir solar still. 80
9. Rajaseenivasan et al.32 Passive Stepped Double-basin double-slope solar 85
still with steps in the upper
basin.
10. Abdullah30 Active Stepped Stepped solar still with a solar air 112
heater and condenser glass
cover cooling system.
11. Gananaraj et al.37 Active Stepped Double-basin single-slope solar 127.65
still with steps in the upper
basin with reflector, flat plate
collector, and mini-solar pond.
12. Present work Passive Stepped-corrugated Stepped-corrugated single basin 147.93
solar still.
Katekar and Deshmukh
active and hybrid solar still designs fitted with either a
stepped or corrugated absorber plate.
Distillate yield and solar still size
prediction
To predict the value of daily productivity for the pro-
posed stepped-corrugated solar still under the climatic
condition of Nagpur city on a particular day using the
MATLAB simulation program, it is necessary to
reduce the error between simulation results and
experimental results as low as possible. For this pur-
pose, two optimal correction factors namely tempera-
ture correction factor and yield correction factor are
investigated using the MATLAB program.
Optimal temperature correction factor
In the beginning, days of the largest error (positive
and negative both) for saline water temperature are
identified. By executing several iterations in the
Figure 16. Temperature correction factor calculation.
Figure 17. Estimation of the temperature correction factor.
13
MATLAB program, these errors are brought close
to null, and an optimal saline water temperature cor-
rection factor is investigated. Figure 16 shows some
iterations with estimated errors for different trials.
The optimal temperature correction factor has been
found as 1.2435 (16th iteration).
Then after, this estimated optimal temperature cor-
rection factor has been checked and verified for sev-
eral days for its accuracy, as shown in Figure 17.
Seeing that the variation is less than 8%, finally, the
optimal temperature correction factor is fixed as
1.2435 to predict the saline water temperature in the
basin on a given day.
Optimal yield correction factor
A similar procedure has been adopted to finalise the
yield correction factor. After many successive iter-
ations, the yield correction factor has been confirmed
as 2.24 with variation in less than 9%, as shown in
Figure 18.
In this way, the optimal correction factor for tem-
perature and yield are finalised as 1.2435 and 2.24,
respectively. These values have been incorporated in
the equation of saline water temperature (equation
(5)) and hourly yield (equation (15)) to predict the
approximately correct saline water temperature and
productivity on a given day.
Yield and solar still size prediction
To maintain good health, the Institute of Medicine
advises that man, woman and child must consume
roughly 3.7, 2.7 and 1.5 L of potable water per
day.51 Therefore, for a typical common Indian 2  2
family, the daily drinking water requirement is 9.4 L.
To predict the size of the stepped-corrugated solar
still, the coldest day of the year 2019 for the Nagpur
city has been identified as 29 December 2019. The
magnitude of hourly atmospheric temperature, solar
14 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

Figure 18. Estimation of the yield correction factor.

Table 6. Prediction of temperature and yield using a MATLAB program for winter climatic conditions at Nagpur city.

Date Time Tw ( C) Tg ( C) Tp ( C) Ta ( C) Mew (kg/h) Efficiency (%)

29-Dec. 2019 11 am 57.45 36.25 58.17 19.00 0.0900 49.1

12 pm 59.24 50.19 60.17 20.00 0.1706 55.07
1 pm 58.22 49.77 59.48 21.00 0.1500 49.14
2 pm 57.52 49.18 58.81 22.00 0.1426 49.16
3 pm 54.99 47.35 56.2 22.00 0.1135 44.08
4 pm 49.42 42.64 50.52 21.00 0.0744 46.3
5 pm 32.43 29.39 33.14 19.00 0.0115 53.58
Average 52.75 43.54 53.78 20.57 0.7526 49.49

irradiation and wind velocity is taken for this date
and fed to MATLAB program running with correc-
tion factors (The average value for atmospheric
temperature, solar energy and wind velocity on
29 December 2019 was 20.7  C, 767.10 W/m2 and
1.11 m/s, respectively.) Table 6 illustrates the pre-
dicted values using the MATLAB program running
with correction factors. The program predicts that in
winter, and the developed stepped-corrugated solar
still will provide a yield of 0.7526 i.e. 2.77 kg/m2/
day. Therefore, for the requirement of 9.4 L potable
water per day for one family, the size of solar still
required is 3.39 m2.
Uncertainty analysis
Uncertainty illustrates the quality of measurement
and measuring instruments. In this experimental
work, we have assumed that the measurements are
allocated consistently, and only uncertainty related
to the systematic error is considered. The standard
uncertainty can be stated as52
a the components.
u ¼ pffiffiffi
3
Table 7 indicates the category and description of
measuring instruments used during experimentation.
It shows that all uncertainties are within the accept-
able limit.
Economic analysis
The aim of the economic analysis aims to estimate the
economy of solar still when it is working to check its
commercial feasibility. The cost of distilling water
obtained from solar still depends on its capital and
running cost. The economic analysis of solar still is
carried out using the following assumptions, and the
equations can be carried out as follows:53,54
Assumptions used for economic analysis are as
follows:
a. The life of the solar still is 15 years.
b. The annual maintenance cost is 15% of the annual
cost
c. The interest rate is 4% p.a.
d. The salvage value is 20% of initial investments on
ð26Þ e. The total numbers of clear sunny days available at
Nagpur city are taken as 310.
Katekar and Deshmukh 15

Table 7. The uncertainty of measuring apparatus. Table 8. Comparison of economic analysis of conventional
and stepped-corrugated still.
Equipment Accuracy Range Uncertainty
Stepped-
K-type 0.01  C 20–130  C 1.73  C Conventional corrugated
thermocouple Parameters solar still solar still
PH meter 0.1 PH 0–14 PH 0.057 PH
TDS meter 1 ppm 0–990 ppm 0.577 ppm Annual cost (Rs./m2) 733.91 1008.17
Calibrated flask 20 ml 0–5000 ml 0.0230 ml Annual yield (kg/m2) 423 1048.97
Annual useful energy (KWh) 375.51 886.39
Annual cost (Rs./kg) 1.73 0.96
f. The selling price of water is considered as Rs. 1 Annual cost in kWh (Rs./KWh) 2.05 1.14
Payback time (months) 22 12
ið1 þ iÞn
Capital recovery factor ðCRFÞ ¼ ð27Þ
ð1 þ iÞn  1

The first annual cost of system ¼ ðCRFÞ  P ð28Þ Table 9. The embodied energy of components of solar still.

Mass Embodied Total energy

i
The sinking fund factor ¼ SFF ¼ Material (kg) energy (MJ/kg) (MJ) kWh
ð1 þ iÞn  1
ð29Þ Glass 2 12.7 25.4 7.055
Aluminium 5 170.0 850 236.11
The annual salvage value ¼ ðSFFÞ  S ð30Þ Plywood 10 10.4 104 28.88
Copper 5 100.0 500 138.88
Total (Ein) 410.92
The annual cost of the system will be

Annual cost ¼ First annual cost

Environ-economic analysis
þ Annual maintenance cost ð31Þ
The environ-economic analysis aims to find how effi-
 Annual salvage cost
ciently the system can use renewable energy with less
emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the environment.
Annual Cost
Annual cost perkg ¼ ð32Þ For this, the embodied energy of different compo-
Annual yield nents of solar still is required. The sum of all the
energy required to produce a particular item is
Annual Cost called embodied energy. The embodied energy for dif-
Annual cost per kWh ¼
Annual useful energy ferent parts of solar still is given in Table 9.
ð33Þ Environ-economic analysis carried out using the
following equations
Cash flow ðCFÞ ¼ yearly yield  selling price ð34Þ
Annual carbon dioxide ðCO2 Þ emission
Ein  1:58 ð36Þ
The payback period (np ) from solar still is math- ¼
n
ematically expressed as
Amount of carbon dioxide ðCO2 Þ
CF
lnðCFðAFCiÞ Þ ð37Þ
np ¼ ð35Þ mitigation ðkg of CO2 Þ ¼ Eout  1:58
lnð1 þ iÞ
Annual energy output ¼ Eout ¼ AY  Lvap ð38Þ
Using the above cost analysis equations, both
the solar stills are analysed. The initial investment
Annual yield AY ¼ Average daily yield
cost for conventional and stepped-corrugated
solar still is estimated as Rs. 7854 and Rs. 10,789,  number of clear days in the year
respectively. Table 8 presents a comparison of the ð39Þ
economic investigation of solar stills. It shows that
the cost of product water is Rs. 1.73 and Rs. 0.96 The latent heat of vaporization (Lvap) in kWh/kg is
for conventional and stepped-corrugated solar still, taken as 0.845 kWh/kg.
respectively, which is 80.2% less for stepped-
corrugated solar still. Payback time is 22 and 12 Carbon dioxide mitigation ðkg of CO2 Þ
months for conventional and stepped-corrugated ð40Þ
over the lifetime ¼ Eout  n  1:58
solar still, respectively.
16
Table 10. Environ-economics analysis.
Parameter
Amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation
over the lifetime (kg of CO2)
Net carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation over the lifetime (tons)
Carbon credit earned (Rs)
EPBT (months)
Life cycle conversion efficiency (%)
Net carbon dioxide ðCO2 Þ mitigation ðtons of CO2 Þ
over the lifetime
¼ ðEout  n  Ein Þ  1:58  103 ð41Þ
Carbon credit earned
¼ ðEout  n  Ein Þ  1:58  103  7:07  74:01
ð42Þ
Assumed that carbon dioxide (CO2) has been
merchandised at E7.07 per ton of CO2 mitigation
(E1 ¼ 74.01).
Carbon dioxide ðCO2 Þ emission during the
lifetime of the distillation unit ðkgÞ ð43Þ
¼ Ein  1:58
Ein
Energy payback time ðEPBTÞ ¼ ð44Þ
Eout
Life cycle conversion efficiency
ðEout  nÞ  Ein ð45Þ
LCCE ¼
Annual solar energy  n
Using the above equations, environ-economic ana-
lysis is carried out for both the solar stills, and results
are tabulated in Table 10. It shows that Rs. 5465.94
and Rs. 8949.31 carbon credits are earned for conven-
tional and stepped-corrugated solar still, respectively.
EPBT is found to be 0.58 and 0.36 years for conven-
tional and stepped-corrugated solar still, respectively,
which is significantly less for stepped-corrugated
solar still.
Conclusions
This paper illustrates the experimental investigations
of single-basin passive solar still fitted with a stepped-
corrugated absorber plate. Two experimental setups
(conventional and stepped-corrugated) are fabricated
and tested for several months. Based on recorded
experimental and simulation results, the following
conclusions are drawn:
. The average temperature difference between saline
water and condenser glass cover is found to be
Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)
Conventional Stepped-corrugated
solar still solar still
8472.97 21,007.36
7.82 20.36
4610.94 11,998.15
14 6
0.82 2.14
105.75% higher for stepped-corrugated still than
conventional still.
. The average basin water temperature in
stepped-corrugated still is 54.1  C which is
19.67% higher than conventional still. However,
on a particular day, its maximum value is recorded
as 64.5  C.
. The average absorber plate temperature
for stepped-corrugated solar still is 58.7  C
which is 23.6% higher than conventional still.
The highest absorber plate temperature is recorded
as 67.4  C.
. The average condenser glass cover temperature is
7.99% higher for stepped-corrugated still than con-
ventional still.
. The maximum and average energy efficiency for
stepped-corrugated solar still is calculated as
64.18 and 31.48%, respectively. The average effi-
ciency is 259.61% higher as compared with conven-
tional solar still.
. The maximum and average exergy efficiency
for stepped-corrugated solar still is 6.06 and
2.49%, respectively. The average exergy efficiency
is 417.25% higher as compared with conventional
solar still.
. The average productivity of stepped-corrugated
and conventional solar still is 3.38 and 1.36 kg/
m2/day, respectively.
. Economic analysis indicates that the annual cost
of product water is Rs. 0.96 and payback time is
12 months for stepped-corrugated solar still.
. The environ-economic analysis states that EPBT is
six months, and carbon credits earned are Rs.
11,998.15 for steeped-corrugated solar still.
. The overall performance of stepped-corrugated still
is superior to conventional still as its absorber plate
is almost parallel to glass cover; consequently, it
has better absorption of solar energy. The corruga-
tion on the absorber plate provides a larger contact
surface area between the plate and saline water
which results in higher heat transfer between
them. Higher absorber plate temperature results
in better heating of saline water in the basin. The
distance between the glass cover and saline water
surface in the basin is nearly constant, and it is
considerably less than the conventional solar
still; therefore, convection loss inside the
Katekar and Deshmukh
stepped-corrugated solar still is lower than conven-
tional solar still.
. To fulfil the daily drinking water demand of a typ-
ical 2  2 Indian family, the size of solar still
required is 3.39 m2, which will provide 9.4 L of pot-
able water per day at the winter climatic condition
of Nagpur city or similar geographical area.
The performance of stepped-corrugated solar still
can further be enhanced by incorporating latent heat
storage materials (Nano-PCM) to diminish heat losses
from the bottom and sidewalls and mixing nanopar-
ticles in the absorber paint for higher absorption of
solar energy. Thus, stepped-corrugated still can be
developed at a commercial scale for common house-
holds living in rural as well as remote locations.
Acknowledgements
Authors would like to sincerely acknowledge the facilities
available to carry out the research work at Energy
Conversion Laboratory of Department of Mechanical
Engineering, S. B. Jain Institute of Technology,
Management and Research, Nagpur, (M.S.) INDIA.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
ORCID iDs
Vikrant P Katekar https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4018-9146
Sandip S Deshmukh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7376-1028
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Appendix
Notation
a error in measuring instrument
A (m2) surface area
A (Rs) complete annual cost
AMC (Rs) annual maintenance cost
ASV (Rs) salvage cost per year
Katekar and Deshmukh 19

C (J/kg  C) specific heat  reflection coefficient

CPL (Rs) cost of distilling water per litre  (kg/m3) density
CRF capital recovery factor (W/m2 K4) Stefan–Boltzmann constant
CSS conventional solar still sb transmission coefficient for beams
Ex (W) exergy radiation
FAC (Rs) first annual cost sd transmission coefficient for diffuse
g (m/s2) acceleration due to gravity radiation
Gr Grashof number
h (W/m2  C) overall heat transfer coefficient
h1 (W/m2  C) coefficient of convection heat trans-
fer between absorber plate and basin
Subscripts
saline water a ambient
h2 (W/m2  C) overall heat transfer coefficient b black
between the saline water surface and c convection
the inner surface of the condenser des destruction
glass cover e evaporation
hfg (J/kg) enthalpy of vaporization of saline g glass
water I liquid
i the annual rate of interest in inlet
I(t) (W/m2) incident solar radiation ins insulation
Ion (W/m2) solar irradiation on a surface per- loss loss
pendicular to the direction of irra- out out
diation out of the earth atmosphere p absorber plate
Ir (W) irreversibility r radiation
k (W/m  C) thermal conductivity s solid, sky
m (kg) mass sun Sun
m (kg/min) mass flow rate t top
mew (kg/m2h) distil water productivity per hour th thermal
n number of experiments per day v humid air
n working days per year w saline water
n (year) a lifetime of solar still
P (Pa) the partial pressure of the vapour
P (Rs) the capital cost of solar still
PCM phase change material
Appendix 1
Pn (kg) average annual distilled water "   #1=3
  Pw  Pg ðTw þ 273Þ
production hcw ¼ 0:884 Tw  Tg þ  
Pr Prandtl number 268:9  103  Pw
     
S salvage value hew ¼ 16:28x103 hcw Pw  Pg = Tw  Tg
SCSS stepped-corrugated solar still h  4 i  
SDG sustainable development goal hrw ¼ "eff ðTw þ 273Þ4  Tg þ 273 = Tw  Tg
SFF sinking fund factor !
b cos  þ d cos z ð1þcos
2
Þ
Sim simulation result IðtÞ ¼ Ion
t (h) time þ0:2ðb þ d Þ cos z ð1cos
2
Þ
 
T ( C) temperature kw
u uncertainty in measuring instrument h1 ¼ 0:54 ðGrPrw Þ0:25
xw
U (W/m2  C) the overall heat loss coefficient
gd3 2w
T
V (m/s) wind velocity Gr ¼
WHO World Health Organisation 2w
a absorption coefficient
T ¼ Tp  Tw
 ( ) condenser glass cover inclination w Cw
 (/K) coefficient of cubical expansion Pr ¼
kw
eeff effective emissivity between the w xw Aw
water surface and glass cover mw ¼ w Vw Aw ¼
t

T ( C) temperature difference Tw þ Tg
 (%) efficiency Ti ¼
2
 (N s/m2) fluid viscosity
Cv ¼ 999:2 þ 0:1434Ti þ 1:0101
 ( ) Zenith angle
z ( ) the angle between solar irradiation  104 T2i  6:7581  108 T3i
and condenser glass cover
20 Proc IMechE Part C: J Mechanical Engineering Science 0(0)

hcga ¼ 2:8 þ 3:0Vw if Vw 45 m=s

353:44 hcga ¼ 5:7 þ 3:8Vw if Vw 4 5 m=s
v ¼
Ti þ 273
htga ¼ hrga þ hcga
kv ¼ 0:0244 þ 0:7673  104 Ti
htba ¼ ½ðxins =Kins Þ þ ð1=hba Þ1
v ¼ 1:718  105 þ 4:62  108 Ti
  htba ¼ hrba þ hcba
5144  
Pi ¼ exp 25:317  Ta þ 273
Ti þ 273 Exga ¼ ht,ga Ag ðTg  Ta Þ 1 
Tg þ 273
1  
¼   Ta þ 273
Ti þ 273 Exew ¼ hew Aw Tw  Tg 1 
  Tw þ 273
hfg ¼ 3:1615 106  761:6Ti for Ti 4 70 "  
   1 Ta þ 273 4
hfg ¼ 2:4935 106  947:79Ti þ 0:13132T2i Exrw ¼ hrw Aw Tw  Tg 1 þ
 3 Tw þ 273
 0:0047974T3i for Ti 5 70  
  4 Ta þ 273
qrga ¼ hrga Tg  Tsky 
h 4  4 i 3 Tw þ 273
qrga ¼ "g Tg þ 273  Tsky þ 273 "    #
1 Ta þ 273 4 4 Ta þ 273
h 4  4 i   Exsun ¼ Ag IðtÞ 1 þ 
hrga ¼ "g Tg þ 273  Tsky þ 273 = Tg  Tsky 3 6000 3 6000
 
  Ta þ 273
Tsky ¼ 0:0552  T1:5
a Expw ¼ h1 Ap Tp  Tw 1 
  Tp þ 273
qcga ¼ hcga Tg  Ta