Design of a Cost - Effective Solar Still From Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract

In modern times, several coastal and remote regions face a scarcity of safe drinking water source. The conventional fossil fuels used for boiling the water are also running short day by day, so using renewable energy sources to purify the water is a dire need. In this project a computational model has been developed using appropriate equations and data, in order to optimize solar stills performance. The daily drinking water production rate of a still depends on factors such as solar insolation, ambient temperature, wind velocity, etc. The production rate also depends on still size, shape, inclination angle, wick material properties, insulation system, water depth, heat-storing mediums, etc. The main challenge of this project is the low production rate that depends on the natural conditions and still parameters. Besides, high installation and maintenance cost are also a great concern. So the primary goal of this research is to increase production rate and design the still as a cost-effective one. The study is conducted using meteorological data of specific locations in Bangladesh. At first, a preliminary design of stepped solar still was prepared using Autodesk Fusion360, then its performance was optimized using the computational model. Thus resulting in a final design of the still. The still has polystyrene foam as wick material, copper wire mesh as heat storing medium and external reflectors for enhancing the amount of water production. Maximum distillate water achieved was around 4 liters for Dhaka City and around 4.7 liters for Siddirganj, Naraynganj during the month of March.