Condensation Rate Enhancement of the Inclined Condenser in the Solar Still Connected With a Solar Water Heater

One method to increase the fresh water productivity of the basin type stills is to increase the condensation rate of their condensing surfaces. A basin type still with an aluminum condenser was fabricated and tested in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas Tech University. To increase the condensation rate the outer surface of the condenser was cooled with cooling water at different flow rates with and without woven jute material above it. For the same reason, cotton wick material was installed inside the basin of the still. It was found that the higher the flow rates of the cooling water across the condenser, the greater the condensation rate. Installation of cotton wick material inside the basin of the still and using jute material above the outer side of the condenser also caused an increase in the condensation rate thereby an increase in fresh water productivity of the still. Further, it was found that the maximum fresh water productivity was achieved when both the jute and the wick materials were installed during the experiment and when the condenser was cooled by water at 10 L/hr flow rate.