Impact of thermosiphon on nocturnal yield of conventional solar still

A mathematical model to predict the thermosiphon flow rate of a single slope solar still coupled with evacuated tube collector and its validation with experiments is presented in this paper. The objective of this experimental investigation is to determine the significance of thermosiphon flow rate and its impact on the fresh water yield during nocturnal conditions. The coupled system operates under thermosiphon through a heat exchanger placed within the basin water. The work was extended to study the influence of ambient temperature on thermosiphon head generated in the system. It was interesting to observe that higher temperature of water in Evacuated Tubular Collector (ETC) tank did not contribute to better flow rate at the inlet of the siphon circuit for varying exit temperatures. Numerical analysis was performed to determine the thermosiphon flow rate and it has good agreement with the experimental results.