Solar distillation using heat pipes and heat exchanger

Abstract

Abstract This project focuses on obtaining distilled water using solar power. A non conventional design was given to the solar distillation by eliminating the basin and replacing it with a small tank with lid which has an outlet for evaporated steam. The arrangement consists of a tank of volume of 7.4 litres which is filled with water which is heated with the help of heat pipe placed inside evacuated tubes. The complete arrangement was made and experiment was conducted at Amrita school of engineering, Bangalore (Latitude: 12.97°N and Longitude: 77.59°E). The performance study was conducted i) Without compound parabolic concentrator ii) With compound parabolic concentrator. The maximum distilled water output obtained was of 560 ml without the use of compound parabolic concentrator with overall efficiency of 23.31%. The output was found to be increased to 680 ml with the use of compound parabolic concentrator which gave an overall efficiency of 27.23%. The hardness of the distilled water was 19ppm which was obtained by distilling brackish water of 390ppm.