TRANSIENT SIMULATION STUDIES ON A MULTISTAGE STACKED TRAY SOLAR-STILL

This paper presents a computer simulation model for studying the transient performance of a multi-stage stacked tray solar still. The model is validated against the results of simulated experiments on a three-stage solar still having electric heater as the heating source. In order to appreciate the developed model, numerical calculations have been made to evaluate the performance of the system heated by a solar collector corresponding to the typical climate of Delhi, India. Effects of number of stages and ratio of collector area to the bottom tray area (A(c)/A(b,1)) on the distillate output have also been studied corresponding to the average days of the coldest and hottest months in Delhi.