Design and performance evaluation of hybrid solar still

Lack of adequate of fresh water has become a serious problem in several countries of the world. Drinking water consumption has been increasing with an ever increasing population. Availability of clean water is going to become one of the most pressing resource issues of the country. Often water sources are brackish and/or contain harmful bacteria and therefore cannot be used for drinking. Even though there are various technologies available for purification of water harnessing solar energy fits the purpose for future problems A distillation is one of many processes available for water purification, and sunlight is one of several forms of heat energy that can be used to power that process. Measurements of various temperatures. Solar intensities, and distilled water production were taken for several days at various operating conditions for River water. An work is carried out in this direction in harnessing solar energy for providing clean water by fabricating single basin solar still integrated with a flat plate collector [FPC] A single stage basin type solar still and a conventional flat plate collector were connected together in order to study the effect of augmentation on the still under local conditions. The still inlet was connected to a locally made fin tube collector. The unit as operated with and without coupling flat plate collector .Hourly and daily measurement of still productivity. Measurements of various parameters, temperatures, solar intensities and distilled water production were noted between 8 AM to 5 PM sunlight day.25 to 40% enhancement in the yield is observed with this system. The various water tests were carried out in the laboratory and found that water is safe and pure for drinking. Solar distillation becomes very attractive in expensive long-term low technology system especially useful where the need for small plant exists.