Yield of an improved solar still: numerical approach

In this work we propose to improve the production of active solar still by the use on the one hand, of external and internal reflectors in order to increase the rate of received overall solar radiation and on the other hand by using a thermal storage tank of in order to feed the still of the hot water for the night period. The input parameters of the computer program include the climatic conditions concerning Constantine town, Algeria (36 0 70’ N, 6 0 37’ E) for typical winter, spring and summer days. The results obtained show without ambiguity that the effect of the reflectors on the increase in the daily productivity of distillate is very significant for the winter period compared to the summer and spring. This increase is about 72.8% in the winter. In addition it appears clearly that the night production of the still increases when this last is coupled with a storage tank out of the sunshine hours. This increase is about 27.54%, 21% and 23.28% respectively for winter, spring and summer.