Session: K6-03: HEAT TRANSFER IN ENERGY SYSTEMS - ENERGY STORAGE I

Paper Number: 122480

122480 - Experimental Analysis of Solar Still Equipped With Porous Rubber Mat As Energy Storage Material 

Abstract: 

The demand for fresh water is rising rapidly, and there is a severe worldwide water crisis. Water filtration is the only way to fulfill the demand for water. There are several ways to purify water, such as cleansing seawater or capturing rainwater before releasing it into the environment. On the other side, desalination systems have a significant disadvantage: they need a lot of energy to run. The solar still (SS) is the greatest solution for generating fresh water, but it has two main drawbacks: a lower production and the intermittent nature of its power source (solar energy). The world is moving towards the use of renewable energy in power production and use of various thermal application, as the energy is available in free of cost and it doesn’t affect the environment (eco-friendly). This work presents the experimental analysis on a single slope solar still using porous rubber mat as thermal energy storage. Experiments were carried out on different water mass varied from 10 to 25 kg inside the basin and the same have been compared with the SS without sensible heat energy storage. The results showed that the increase in water mass in the basin reduced the amount of palatable water produced from the SS with and without sensible thermal energy storage. The highest palatable water produced from the SS in both the cases were at the lowest mass of water. The SS with porous rubber mat produced a maximum palatable water was 0.95 kg whereas, the SS without rubber mat it was found as 0.45 kg/m2 at the lowest water mass. Similarly, the highest palatable water collected occurred at different time intervals and mass of water in the basin as the stored energy is liberated to the water at different time.  The augmentation in the palatable water produced from the SS with porous rubber mat may be due to the higher absorption of heat and improved surface area of water with the solar radiance. Furthermore, the at the lowest water mass, the average daily efficiency of the modified SS with porous is higher to about 55.6 % which is higher compared to the SS without porous rubber mat as thermal energy storage and the average daily efficiency decreases with increased water mass inside the basin on both the cases. The exergy analysis revealed that the exergy efficiency improved to about 3.5 % using porous rubber mat in the basin as compared to the SS without any material. 

Presenting Author: Ravishankar Sathyamurthy King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Presenting Author Biography: Ravishankar Sathyamurthy is a Faculty in Mechanical Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudia Arabia. His research interests include material science, refrigeration and air conditioning, solar drying, solar still desalination, IC engines, Nano fluids in heat transfer applications, material characterization, Computational fluid dynamics, phase change materials, energy storage, Alternate fuels, heat and power engineering. He authored and coauthored more than 200 international articles and presented 15 articles in international conferences.

Authors:

Ravishankar Sathyamurthy King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals