Inclined solar still designs: A review

Two major challenges for human society today are shortage of fresh water and shortage of conventional energy. Solar still is the best method to convert saline, brackish water into fresh water using the unconventional source of energy which is freely and abundantly available in planet earth. The main drawback with conventional basin still is that the productivity is very low. Most important design parameters influencing the productivity are optimization of glass inclination, absorber plate area, free surface area of water and depth of water. The main difficulty in conventional still is maintaining minimum depth and large surface area of water. Inclined solar still is alternative to increase the surface area of water and maintain minimum depth. Researchers have put efforts to develop various designs of inclined solar stills to maintain the minimum depth of water using wicks, steps in the stills to increase the productivity. In this review, we are attempting to study the present status of different designs used to improve the productivity of inclined solar stills.