Energy, exergy and economic assessments of novel sustainable solar powered evacuated tube collector integrated active desalination system

Novel sustainable solar powered combined desalination and hot water system is investigated based on energy, exergy and economic performances experimentally. For the purpose, evacuated tube col-lector integrated serpentine based active desalination unit is fabricated to fulfil the potable water and hot water supply especially in hospitals, hill station buildings and remote locations. Experimental investigations are performed for various mass flow rates in serpentine at different basin water depth (0.03, 0.04 and 0.05 m) over nine typical days. Effect of solar insolation and atmosphere tempera-ture on potable water yield and system energy and exergy efficiencies are analyzed under real weather conditions. Measurements reveal that, maximum daily potable water yield, energy effi-ciency, exergy efficiency and hot water temperature are obtained as 5.10 kg/m2 & BULL;day, 42.39%, 4.45% and 67 & DEG;C, respectively at 0.03 m water depth and lower mass flow rate. Additionally, potable water cost per litre (CPL) found minimum as 0.04073 $/L/m2 for 25 y of operating life of system.