Comparative analysis on the proposed novel absorber configuration in a solar still

Two solar stills were investigated by different absorbers under the same operating condition. A conventional flat basin absorber where the water is a single pool in a basin area of 0.5 m(2) and a modified solar still with a chess board type absorber (CBTA) are investigated. CBTA has divided compartments in which water fills alternatively in the boxes of an area of 0.02 m(2) each. This research mainly focuses on the increasing solar still's evaporation rate by CBTA at varying water depths of 2.5, 5, and 7.5 cm, respectively. Maximum productivity was obtained for the modified solar still with the proposed CBTA compared with the conventional basin absorber for all the variations in the depth of water maintained in both cases. The modified SS yields 3,086 mL/d of water for an absorber area of 0.5 m(2), whereas the conventional still yields 2,456 mL/d for a depth of 2.5 cm. The thermal efficiency of modified and traditional SS is 42.75% and 24.63%, respectively. The future scope of this CBTA can be varying the shapes of the absorbers like triangular, cylindrical, conical, star pattern, rhombic, and other possible forms. The limitation of the proposed system is that filling the water in the absorber is the major problem incurred.